Anyone who can make a cup of tea and dye a skein of wool, or linen/cotton. It almost like alchemy that such common garden plants can produce an amazing array of vibrant colors. The way that this wheel works is the plant corresponds with the different mordant to help preserve the color. Natural dyeing has endless possibilities of colors that are able to be created depending on factors like soak time, varying up mordants, even which part of the plant you’re using! These mostly act as suggestions to a place to begin, even though there are limitless ways to produce plant based dyes. Here’s an example of how this process would would be done: Dyeing: 12 oz. marigold heads 5 cups water 2 tbsp alum Steps: Bring water to a boil with marigolds. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes. Strain and transfer only liquid back to pot. Add damp fabric and simmer 10–20 minutes. Rinse, or leave in bath overnight and rinse with hot water until water runs clear. Dry. Heat set by ironing for 5 minutes. What plants are your favorite to dye with?
*I am not an expert dyer, all of this information was researched via Garden Flower Folklore by Laura C. Martin. .
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
Litha is here! It’s the Summer solstice, the longest day and the shortest night. The night is lit with huge bonfires and people are dancing until the dusk, can you hear the drums already? Solstices are a time for celebrations of what we have achieved so far and a reflection of the mistakes we have made and what we have learned.
I don’t know if you are still in lockdown, but here in Scotland we can move around a bit. I don’t know what you have planned for this special day, but I think I’ll just enjoy the sun outside in a park and take a long stroll in my city. There is nothing much I can do in these weird time anyway. I am a huge foodie, so my way of celebrating is more on the kitchen side. I have created the perfect recipe for you! These Madeleines are a treat! They are perfumed with Thyme, lemon and lavender, those herbs correspond to Litha, plus they have strong magical purification properties. Eating those on Litha and you will be cleanse of bad stagnant energies and ready for the second part of the year!
A handful of fresh thyme (plus some for decoration)
1 to 2 tsp dried Lavender (to your taste)
zest of 1 Lemon
3 eggs
120g unrefined cane sugar
125g room temperature butter
150g self-raising flour
Prep the Thyme. Wash and dry you thyme. Leave out hard stems and pick the leaves. Mince them in small bits
Prep the Lavender. Grind Lavender in a robot or using a pestle and mortar.
Prep the dough. Beat 3 eggs with the sugar with a whisk until light and foamy
Add the butter then the flour. Mix quickly.
Add the rest of the ingredients: thyme, lavender and the lemon zest.
Mix quickly again. Leave it in the fridge to rest for an hour
Pre-heat the oven 180°C / 360°F
Rub the madeleine molds with butter. If you don’t have madeleine molds, any cupcakes or muffins molds will do too.
Pour the dough in the moulds.
Bake in warm oven 8 to 10 min 180°C / 360°F. They are ready when slightly brown on the edges.
They are the best eaten straight away from the oven. You can keep them a couple of days in an air tight container.
If you don’t have any cane sugar, regular sugar is fine.
They pairs really well with an Earl Grey tea.
1) Basic Cooking : This is probably pretty obvious and most people interested in kitchen witchcraft know at least the basics. But if you don’t - learn. You can do kitchen magic without even turning on a stove (sandwiches, salads, etc)
2 ) Cooking From Scratch : Start with basics and get more complicated. Basic things can include - Soups, Sauces, Marinated or Seasoned Meat, Potato Dishes.
3 ) Baking and Baking From Scratch : Baking from a box is perfectly valid. you can add things like fruit or nuts, you can make frostings or fillings, you can decorate. But baking from scratch is also a good skill. Pies, Pastries, Cakes, Etc. Also remember savory baking (like bread, meat pies, etc)
4 ) “Drink Potions” : Any drink really. Coffee, Tea, Juice, Milkshakes, Etc
5 ) Canning, Pickling, Preserving : I have limited experience in this, but there are lots of recipes for “Freezer Jam” or “Refrigerator Pickles” and im going to start with them.
6 ) Cheese Making, Yogurt Making : Another thing i have no experience in, but you can buy kits online for a decent price.
Kitchen Magick is Something near and dear to me. And something I enjoy doing damn near every day..A way to make something that you do every day a little more magickal… though I believe cooking and food itself is magickal. It is a gift of earth. but adding in your own magick and intent makes it all the more powerful.
I usually just let my guides…guide me.. I’ll find myself sprinkling in typically unusual things like A pinches of nutmeg and cinnamon along with basil and rosemary in my spaghetti , I stumbled upon the perfect sweet treats for calm composure and memory help with rosemary and lavender sugar cookies,
and todays topic…COCOA . I use it in SO MANY THINGS. Even when I’m not purposefully trying do the Witchin’ . And there are some great magickal and medicinal uses for it!
Latin Name- Theobroma cacao
Feminine
Elements-
milk chococlate - Water, Earth
dark chocolate-Fire , Earth
The History of chocolate starts In ancient Mesoamerica. Fermented cocoa beverages date back to 350BC, though recent studies have shown it may date back as far as 1400BC. Aztecs believed that Cocoa seeds were a gift from the God Quetzalcoatl who is the God of wisdom , The seeds of cocoa were once so valuable they were even used as a form of currency ! translated , it literally means “ food of the gods”
The higher the amount of Cocoa, the more beneficial it is for you. Unsweetend cocoa and nibs are the best for this.
~Antioxidant
~Hormonal&Neurological ( it makes you feel better& happy!)
~increases memory
~Longevity and resilience
~lowers cholesterol
~ reduces risks of stroke
~ strengthens immune system
in general chocolate is great for spells for happiness, comfort , love , friendship and feel better.
Dark chocolate is best for sex , romance , love power, prosperity, memory,wisodom, and grounding
Milk chocolate is more suited for friendship, self love, nurturing, love , balance, fun and energy, happiness, and revelry
~ Bake cakes and cookies for your friends or family for happiness , fun , love and to ward of negativity
~Bake your crush or lover a cake to set the mood and have some BOMB sex( or just to help ease tension and have good energy within your relationship and sex life)
~ meditation cookies or hot cocoa , with herbs and hot milk of your choice , perfect for meditation and divination and right before spell work.
~ make some dark chocolate and rosemary cookies , cake or bark for memory and focus before class or a test or something important , or even to help jump start some creative visions like writing , reading, art etc.
~add some to your incense to invite a warm and happy atmosphere
~ literally anything made with chocolate , cocoa powder ect can be used in magick along with herbs and other things in kitchen magick.
~you can even leave it as offerings to your fairies, house spirits , ancestors ect.
~ give chocolate bars and baked goods as gifts for various needs like someone in grief who could use some cheering up and calming , a party that needs some lively vibes and even to a student you know who could use some calming , focusing energy , wisdom , and memory help!
the possibilities are endless and feel free to explore them all!
Ill be posting a list of recipes of different things using chocolate and other things in kitchen witchery soon. keep an eye out for them!
this spell isnt necessarily overly complicated as far as components, but it’s a little physically involved, just a note if you’re a witch that has to worry about spoons and such, but on an okay day id say it’s perfectly doable
[ what you’ll need; ]
• white candle
• light pink candle
• yellow candle
• light blue candle
• sage incense
• three small bowls/plates
• mortar and pestle
• rose petals
• fresh thyme
• sugar
• honey
• lavender water
[ steps ]
light your candles, then your incense using the white candles flame. make sure you’re catching the ash cause you’ll need it later in the spell as well
in three separate bowls have your rose petals and then your thyme, then mix your sugar, honey, and lavender water into the third bowl.
place the rose bowl in front of your pink candle, charging it with self love, healing, forgiveness, and compassion.
place the thyme bowl in front of the yellow candle, charging it with healing, energy, happiness, and fulfillment.
finally, place your third bowl in front of the blue candle, charging it with soothing, healing, emotional strength, love, and gentleness.
gently grind together your petals and thyme, then add in some of the incense ash and use a bit of the lavender water to bring it to a pasty-paint-ish consistency of sorts, then add in the third bowls contents and combine, add more water if needed to keep the consistency where we need it
take the sludge and spread it across your face how you see fit, be messy if you want, get carried away, be as gentle or chaotic as you feel necessary and once you’re satisfied that everything’s been perfectly scrubbed with your new intent, rinse it all off with nice cool water and pat dry, follow up with a lavender/rose water/tea tree toner if you’d like, and a light moisturizer ✨
(Originally created and hosted for The Alexandria Archives on 8/1/19)
Instrumental/Nature music for this ritual: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiveDidzPyw
Supplies:
a small handful oats/rice/grain (or paper scraps to symbolize the grain) to scatter on the ground or table
a simple grain-based snack (cracker, popcorn, ricecake, slice of bread, bagel, cookie, etc.) berries or grapes or a pear/peach. Enough to be split- half for yourself and half as an offering.
A candle
Candle dressings with holiday associations (oil/tincture/tea of rose, sandalwood, or citrus; gold or yellow colored flower petals (dandelions count!); amber, citrine, peridot, carnelian crystals; gold, orange, yellow, green, or light brown ribbon/thread/fabric)
a pen/pencil and paper
a divination tool
Today we give thanks for the first harvest. This no longer means literally for most people but it doesn’t we can’t do it symbolically! Also a harvest, in witchcraft, can mean many things beyond agricultural hauls. We are through the first half of the year and are reaping what we’ve sown for those first six months. Observing the changes in your community, your local wildlife and foliage. This greater connection is all a part of the harvest of life.
Get settled somewhere safe and comfortable; your supplies nearby. Collect the oats/rice/paper scraps in your hand. Feel their texture and the way they connect to the earth. How they hold the very foundation of a harvest in a tiny compact little vessel; waiting to be planted and tended to. Cup your hands in front of your face and gently blow on the grains. Think of the sun, the rain, the warmth needed to turn a seed into a crop. You are lending your energy to them. Tonight they are going to help guide us along this ritual. I like to take a breath and blow on the grains three times, but you can do it as many times as you need until it feels like the grains are bathing in your energy.
Gently scatter the grains/scraps on the floor (or a table surface- that’s okay). We are asking for the Harvest’s Blessing tonight and give this grain in trade. Close your eyes. Envision that you are now in a field and the grains you’ve scattered are already sprouting, growing, until there is a field of grain at least waist high around you. Run your hands gently through the soft shoots. Hear the wind blow through them; birdsong joins in joyously- it almost sounds like music. Wander through this field at your leisure; reflect on what this year has brought you. The good and bad. Think about how you can weed the bad out of future harvests and how to multiply the good for the next harvest. At some point, you will stumble across a small curved knife or pair of scissors in the field. Pick them up. They feel warm and familiar in your hand. The earth offers you some of her harvest willingly. Cut a small sheaf of the grain, the size of a small bouquet.
As you come back to yourself in your physical space imagine the sheaf of wheat came back with you and was transformed into energy that infused your candle dressing. Take a moment to hold the dressing and visualize that- the energy of the Harvest filling that oil/ribbon/petals/stones/etc. Take your candle and dress it with the Harvest imbued dressing; thinking of those wheat fields and the music they made. Charge the candle with the energy of the sabbat (charging methods: visualizing, rubbing, singing/humming, tapping, blowing, etc.).
Light your candle.
Take your pen and paper and think back to that walk in the field. Think about those personal harvests this year has brought you so far. On the top of the paper write down the good harvests you’ve been brought. On the bottom write down the bad. Tear the paper in half.
Feed the “bad harvests” to the candle- the Light of Lugh consuming it and cleansing it. Take the other half and place it under your offering you have. Focus on the good of those harvests and how they made you feel filling that snack and lighting the way for the rest of this year. Take a portion and eat it. The warm glow of prosperity and luck of the holiday fills you all the way to your toes as you eat this offering. Declare the other portion for the earth and deities/spirits of this Harvest. Leave your paper underneath until you dispose of the offering (in whatever manner you are comfortable with).
Lastly, time for some sabbath divination! You can do this at your leisure and share the results if you’re comfortable! I also have a specific holiday cartomancy spread below if you happen to be using those tools and feel so inclined! Once you’ve performed and recorded your holiday divination, take a moment to ground yourself and be gentle in returning to a more solid frame of thought. Please share any impressions, observations, feelings that you’d like to! Harvest Blessings to you all!
Baking Bread Spread The Knead: What you must surrender in order to develop your next harvest/goal The Dough: The central goal/idea of your next harvest The Oven: What you need to perfect your next harvest/goal(edited)
Maps! Maps! MAPS! If you're a death witch, get one for the cemeteries you visit and mark gravestones/areas you've practiced in! Garden witches! Map out your gardens! Green witches! Map where you find specific herbs in your area! Lunar witches! Mark the best spots to go look at the sky! Make a key! Take notes!
Recipes for COMPONENTS! Write down how to make the mixtures you use in spells often- A special salt mixed with herbs and put under the moon, a mixture of oils for protection, the herb mixes sachets you keep making to add to sachets, whatever!
For green witches- press samples of stuff and glue them in! Go to an arboretum and ask for permission to take leaves to press, they'll usually let you take some- add them in with your notes about trees
Cool ways to make spells! I make spells in envelopes and on empty spools, what are some ways you do?
The local plants in your area and what they do. You're not going to be likely to find chrysanthemums to forage in Missouri, but you will find creeping charlie and prairie plants. What can you do with a thistle?
When you celebrate a sabbat, write down what you did and include samples! Ribbons from your Beltane altar, a pressed sample of your lemmas harvest, a scrap of your Yule decorations. Maybe do a spell and tape the remnants into your grimoire in a plastic baggie
Learn how to make an envelope out of paper just by folding it, how to string seeds, how to dry plants, how to macrame rocks and hang them from your window. Find those little witchy skills and write them down.
How to incorporate your hobby into your magic. Sigiling origami paper, weaving knot magick into your crochet, making blessed bookmarks, etc
Substitutes! Rosemary, rose and clear quartz are good for most things, but there are more substitutes to be used that are more powerful. Roanoke bells are good substitutes for bluebells, apparently.
Correspondences of odd things. Turns out different kinds of cats have different correspondences, huh.
Superstitions and such from where you're from.
For kitchen witches: easy to alter recipes. An egg noodle recipe that takes herbs really well, a simple bread recipe that can be dressed up for spells or rituals, how to make a good pie crust that you can sprinkle nutmeg in or whatever you desire.
Or: What foods go good with what herbs. You'll make a better apple pie (and get the benefits of apples, nutmeg, and cinnamon together!) If you know how your herbs taste together with your cooking. (Most kitchen witches know this stuff, but for a green witch who likes to make teas or a sea witch that likes to make soup, etc, this is important)
So, I am a baker by trade. And, if I may say so, I am a very good baker. I make very pretty baked goods. I am good at my job.
Except that I always feel like I’m slow. I take longer than most other bakers at my job. And, yeah, it’s the trade-off for making high quality goods, and most everyone accepts that. But it’s something I’m really, really insecure about. Especially since I work 9 hour graveyard shifts; I don’t want to be there any longer than I have to. Too tiring.
So I started doing this spell for myself at work:
Whenever I make something that proofs, I channel energy into whatever dough I’m working with (usually as I shape it, but also as I spray non-stick pan-spray into the pans, visualizing the spray as a vehicle for the transference of energy). This is usually accompanied by aggressively chanting (in my head so my coworkers don’t think I’m crazy), “I am a good baker. I work quickly and efficiently while still maintaining a high quality product.”
So now I have this charged up bread dough (often in charged-up pans; thanks pan-spray). But - okay, so, I think this is so cool - as the dough proofs and gets bigger, the intentions of the spell proof up and get bigger. And then, when I bake the bread/pastries/whatever, it completes the spell (usually with even more of an oomph, since things get just a bit bigger when they bake as well).
And that’s my speed and confidence at work spell! Works for me every time! That first batch of dough goes in the oven and BAM!
“But Miss D, I’m not a baker.” You say. “I don’t need to be a faster baker.”
Well, you know what, that doesn’t matter! This can be a great medium for spells of any intention! Think of something you want to be bigger. The money in your bank account, your confidence, the number of friends you have - whatever. If it can grow bigger in some way, this’ll work!
Now, you can bake yourself some bread for this (if you knead your dough by hand, you can really pound that energy into it!), but I’m thinking that anything that grows could work, since that’s basically what proofing is - the dough growing bigger. Like, maybe if you get a balloon, you can charge the balloon itself with the energy (maybe tugging at it or whatever people do to make the plastic more pliable). Then blowing air into the balloon is the action of proofing, making your intentions and whatever your spell is for grow bigger as the balloon grows bigger. And then maybe you could pop it (like baking the bread) and BAM - MO MONEY/CONFIDENCE/FRIENDS/WHEVS.
And you could totally throw extra oomph into this method with things like color correspondences (especially for balloons, but also you could use food dye or certain ingredients for bread), or especially for bread, throw in some herbs relating to your intentions! (Need some success? Cinnamon bread. Protection? Basil, rosemary, onion. The possibilities are l i m i t l e s s ! !)
Eh? Eeehhhh? Wha’cha think?
[to any deity in particular]: Hi. I’ve brought shitty alcohol, two electric candles, a chocolate bar, my many issues, and an undying love for you. Can you help me un-fuck myself?
[deity]: sighs deeply