Oflavenderandraindrops - Short Or Long Rest?

Cottages are cute

my piece for @petaldancezine 🌱

Alena Aenami [Artstation]

Oh you

Karen | @permillion44 

Actually useful shit to have as a witch

You really don't need all the fancy bullshit every tumblr influencer will ever tell you to use. Here's my countdown ofaxtually useful shit.

A pocket knife, preferably with a wood handle. Use that bitch for everything, enchant it, carve symbols in it. It will absolutely be your best friend.

A good bag or backpack with a couple of plastic or ziploc bags in it. If you ever run off into the woods to find minerals, bones, plants, etc. A set aside bag and some things to store your treasures in becomes a necessity.

Basic divinatory sets. You don't have to buy fancy shit, learn to divine with playing cards and dice, or learn geomancy, lithomancy, or rune casting with homemade sets. A tarot deck is nice, but it isn't necessary when you've got so many other divinatory aids available.

A nice sized chunk of scrap cloth. When you process dried plants or sort new ones, that shit can and will get everywhere. A scrap piece of muslin or linen can help contain all of that mess and make clean up way easier.

A stash of good rocks. Draw sigils or symbols on those babies and leave them in the garden, the windowsill,property boundaries, under the stoop, etc. You can never have too many good rocks.

A pendulum, for fucks sake. The cards are going to be vague as hell when you're trying to figure out yes or no questions, and using a candle to communicate with spirits is really fucking hard outside. If you can't afford one, find a nice chunk of pointy quartz and learn to macrame.

A workspace. Everyone talks about having big fancy altars, but no one mentions that you need a good surface to do all your work on.

Storage, so much storage. I'm not talking about mason jars and pill bottles, I'm talking about where you put all the things you put in those jars. Having a workspace with drawers is immeasurably helpful.

A broom and water source. You're going to be cleaning up after yourself a lot, it's helpful to have a jug of water and a broom that stays by your workspace.

A mode of cleansing. I make a salt concoction to scatter around my workspace on short notice and store it close by.

On that note: SOMETHING TO CANCEL SPELLS WITH. Eventually, something will go wrong. You'll want to end that spell immediately. Have something to do it with.

A strainer. If you don't have a blender, rub dried plants across it to get a powder. If you do have a blender, you can strain that powder with it. Either way, if you intend to powder shit, get a strainer.

Small trays. It makes drying flowers so much easier if you have a small metal surface to contain them with- then just stick those suckers in a southern window and let em go.

Yarn/string scraps. Having a box or drawer of scraps makes trying this up to dry easier and a bit less wasteful.

A stash of offerings for whatever you work with. Honey for fae, coins for graveyard gatekeepers, alcohol for ancestors, etc.

Protective talismans or charms. Once you're into all of this stuff, you'll likely stick your nose in something you shouldn't. Having basic protection with you or in your workspace is incredibly important. A key and hagstone with red string is simple and effective.

A lighter- so many people forget the most basic shit. You're going to want to light shit on fire if you're a witch.

And a last tip- if something is too hard for a mortar and pestle, a plastic bag and hammer works too.

Lemon Syrup

Lemons- happiness, vitality, friendship, rejuvenation, clarity, cleansing, healing, protection, solar energy.

Sugar- sweetness in life, happiness, attraction.

You'll need enough lemons to make 1/2 cup of squeezed lemon juice. For me, that was 3 lemons.

Before juicing them, separate the zest (the bright yellow part of the peel, not the white pith underneath, which will make your syrup bitter).

Then juice the lemons, and add to a pot with 3/4 to 1 cup of white sugar.

Let it boil, and once it does, reduce the boil to a simmer for 10 minutes. If you think the syrup is not thick enough, add more sugar.

Add the zest and turn off the heat entirely. Once it has cooled, strain it to remove all the zest and any pulp. Don't leave the zest in the syrup, even if it looks aesthetically appealing, because it'll turn bitter.

Keep it covered and chilled and it can keep up to a year. You can add it to teas, cocktails, use it for lemonade, drizzle it on pastries, etc.

October 2020 Illustrations ヽ(• ‿ •)ノ