This is a really good, comprehensive list of edible flowers. It has a vivid description each plant’s taste and how to use and harvest as well as including which parts of the plant are inedible (x)
Here’s a great free ebook on cooking, brewing and blending herbs (x)
This website has fantastic gardening advice. Just search for a plant and it will tell you how to grow it, what grows indoors, pest, solutions, trivia and much, much more. (x) And it even has an edible gardening section (x) plus an indoor section if you don’t have a garden (x)
If you have any other resources, feel free to add them to this list.
Sit in a body of water, a natural one or a bath. Feel where the water touches your skin. Find the line at the surface, where it touches you. Go around your whole body. Feel weightless.
Drink a glass of water, slowly and steadily. Feel it travel down your throat and into the rest of your body. Finish the glass.
Listen to the rain, the waves, the babbling brook. Feel the sound. Let it vibrate through you until your vibrations match.
Air:
Feel the wind on your face. Let the spread-out pieces of you be picked up by the wind, and pushed back to you. Let the wind carry the unnecessary stresses away.
Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Repeat.
Take a word, sound, or phrase. Repeat it or sing it, find that pitch and speed that feels right.
Fire:
Feel the heat from a fire, let it warm your bones.
You are a candle flame. Sit or stand tall. Let the excess energy burn up and out the top of your head like smoke. Flicker as needed.
Turn off the lights, light a candle. Watch its light flicker on the walls. Melt into the room.
Made this list for my fellow witchies who like their kitchen to be full of the green stuff :
Basil : like lots of sun and warmth. More difficult to grow in the winter months
Bay : needs plenty of sun and fresh air.
Chives : needs at least 6 hours of sun and plenty of water.
Dill : prefers slightly acidic soil, needs plenty of sunlight, doesn’t need too much water.
Lemongrass : My personal favorite as you don’t plant it in soil. Grow in a couple of inches of water. Easiest to grow.
Mint : needs plenty of water and needs to be placed in an area with indirect light. Harvest frequently.
Oregano : does not deal well with cold and drastic temperature changes could kill it.
Parsley : Doesn’t require too much light or maintenance, but is a slow grower.
Rosemary : needs 6 – 8 hours of strong, direct sunlight. Only water when the top layer of soil feels dry. Needs good ventilation. A bit trickier to grow.
Sage : Needs plenty of sun.
Thyme : Needs 6 – 8 hours of sunlight a day and maybe even supplemental light.
“As crystals have powerful vibrations, it is easy to transfer these vibrations to water. Gem remedies, also known as elixirs or essences, can be taken internally-unless the stone is toxic. They can also be applied to the skin or put into bathwater. Remedies such as Black Tourmaline can be put into a mister in water and sprayed in the room.” ~Judy Hall (The Crystal Bible 2003)
3 Ways to Craft Gem Elixirs:
Method One:
Place cleansed crystal in a bowl or glass of distilled water. Charge all day in sunlight. For stones that are susceptible to fading, charge overnight in the light of the full moon. This method is best for stones that are non-friable, such as clear quartz, and should never be used with toxic stones like malachite. If there is any doubt in your mind about a stones toxicity, please DO NOT USE THIS METHOD. (example pictured left)
Method Two:
Place a small bowl inside of a larger bowl or dish. Put cleansed crystal inside the smaller bowl and add distilled water to the larger bowl or dish. Charge all day in sunlight (non-fading stones) or all night in full moonlight (fading stones). This is an excellent indirect method for smaller stones that are toxic and/or friable. (example pictured center)
Method Three:
Fill a bowl with distilled water. Surround your bowl with the cleansed crystals of your choice and charge all day in the sunlight (non-fading stones) or all night in the full moon (fading stones). This method is also indirect and safe for friable and toxic stones, but requires you have enough crystals to surround the bowl. (example pictured right)
Storage and Usage
Once your elixir has charged all day (or night), you have a mother tincture which should be added to more water inside of a blue or amber glass bottle and stored in a cool, dark place. If storing beyond a week, add 1/3 base of vodka or grain alcohol to discourage bacteria growth.
Gem elixirs are vibrationally potent. You can add them to aura/cleansing sprays, put some in your bathwater, throw some into a jar spell as a crystal correspondence, and even dress spell candles with them.
Though Judy says it’s safe to ingest the non-toxic elixirs, I’m just gonna say this: Please do your research and please ingest ONLY AT YOUR OWN RISK. There is a lot of wonky information out there and I’d hate to see something terrible happen to someone on account of identifying something as safe when it’s actually not. That being said, gem elixirs are super fun and versatile in their usages, even without ingesting them. Enjoy!
I keep getting this question in my inbox so I figured I’d post the answer publicly so I can refer to it instead. First of all though, there are tons of posts about this already and if you do a quick search through the “witchcraft community” tag or “witchcraft 101″ you’ll find a lot of great advice already circulating. What I’m going to outline here is my personal recommendation, and as for all my posts this is the “YMMV” disclaimer (your mileage may vary, i.e. do what works for you and don’t take this as absolute in any way).
Step 1: Pick a spell. Any spell. Seriously, it doesn’t matter. Well… okay, maybe don’t like… try to conjure Baphomet into your living room or something, but pick any rando spell that you feel like doing. Don’t worry about what it is, or who wrote it, or how “authentic” it is. Do these things matter? Sure, maybe, depends on who you ask, but you can figure this stuff out later. For now, just pick a spell. The only real guideline I’ll give here is that it should ideally be something with a measurable result within a reasonable timeframe. I’ll get to why later.
Step 2: Bake a cake. Don’t actually bake a cake (unless you want a cake, in which case by all means please bake a cake), but this is the part where you gather whatever it is you need for the spell and perform it as it’s written. Spells can in some ways be considered recipes in that you want to try following the directions first, and make your changes afterwards. This is especially true for a beginner or someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing yet.
Step 3: Mouth feel. The spell is done, congrats. You probably feel… nothing, tbh, maybe even vague disappointment. Why? Because this wasn’t really your magic yet, and there’s very likely something (maybe even a lot) missing. This is the most crucial part of your process. What were you expecting? What did you like, not like? It’s time to write this down, and if you’re the type of person who wants to keep a grimoire this is a great first entry. Were you hoping for more ritual? Maybe ceremonial magic is what you should look into. Did you want there to be more bubbling cauldrons? Try looking into hearth magic or herbal magic. Were you missing a chant, a poem? Look more into spellcraft and the power of words. Some key subjects you can look up: crystal magic, herbal magic, hearth magic, cosmic magic, spirit work, death magic, healing magic, bane magic, divination, folk magic, chaos magic, technomancy, sigilwork, spellcraft, hedge walking, deity worship, sex magic, blood magic, etc. If any of these sound appealing to you, do a google search and read about them a little more so you can decide whether or not you want to delve in a little further.
Step 4: The cake is a lie. This is where we drop the food metaphors, and get back to that thing I brought up in step one: measurable results within a reasonable timeframe. This is the part that seems to get lost the most in all the advice going around, and in my opinion it’s the second most important (the first one being that practicing magic feels good/right to you). Grimoires aren’t just supposed to be pretty lists of spells and correspondences, they’re supposed to contain spells that actually work. The key here is to figure out what feels right to you as far as method, and then to refine that method to achieve tangible results. If you already feel great doing magic, let me tell you… you’ll feel pretty fucking amazing when your magic starts having an actual effect on the world around you, and it shouldn’t take years of mastery for that to happen. Small magics and simple spells can be done effectively by beginner witches, and these are the things you build upon to form your craft. If your magic isn’t getting results, it’s not magic: it’s ceremony.
Step 5: Rinse and repeat. For most people there is a specific facet of magic that attracted them to it before they ever cast a spell, and while some people might know what it is straight off the bat most people don’t, and that’s fine. You don’t need to know what you’re doing right at the start, and making mistakes isn’t going to curse your house or open up a portal into the dark realms by accident (still assuming you’re doing beginner stuff and not trying to invoke dark spirits to do your bidding or something). The witchcraft side of tumblr can often look really serious and like everyone knows exactly what they’re doing all the time, but the truth of the matter is there’s a lot of trial and error and that’s exactly what magic is supposed to be. If you’re looking towards magic as something to provide all the answers for you, you’re gonna have a real bad time. It’s about looking at how other people have gotten to where you want to go, and forging your own route from there.
On a final note, I’d just like to add that if anyone claims to be an absolute authority on any given topic of witchcraft or occultism, be extremely fucking wary. If anyone is saying you need to pay x amount of money or buy x number of things to be a “real witch”, be extremely fucking wary. Witchcraft existed before money, before capitalism, before industrialization and consumerism.
As always, my inbox is open if you have any questions about this (or anything else). If I don’t know the answer, I can usually point you towards someone who does or at least give you a direction to search in. Happy witching!
Here’s a quick-and-dirty list of things that I think sets up a good foundation for someone moving forward with magic work and why. They’re also in order of what I think is best approached first. (For a time reference, I recommend the whole thing taking at LEAST a year, but individual steps and overall length will vary in each person.)
Learn basic magical theory. What is happening when you cast a spell? What is grounding? How do correspondences work? Why is X step or tool important? Learn about what it is you’re doing before diving into actual casting. Have a basic grip on how it works.
Some form of divination, even if it’s something as simple as a pendulum. Other people won’t always be there to help you answer questions, validate your interpretation of something, or offer direction. Having some form of divination under your belt helps you avoid dependency on other people. You can more easily answer your own questions, check your own intuition, and take matters into your own hands.
Protection and Cleansing. No matter what path you go down or what type of magic you end up doing, these are two things that every magic worker needs to know how to do, and know how to do it well. They also tend to be fairly straightforward to learn. Cleanse your space, cleanse yourself, cleanse that object, cleanse your grandma. Then protect them. Learn how to set up wards and shields, which brings us to….
Basic energy work. You’ve probably already run into it a lot by this point and it’s fine if you’ve already picked up some things. But now is the time to really focus on it and get comfortable with it. Learn how to confidently sense what’s around you and interact with it, fix gaps in your wards and shields, project your intent into things, you get the idea. Energy work will always be there in a pinch and requires no materials besides your body, and is extremely versatile. Plus, most paths really require at least a base-level understanding of it these days. Can’t hurt.
Start honing your specific path. Here’s where the cookbooks, the old graveyards, the skulls on the shelf, the fairy figurines start really coming into play. If you have an idea of what sort of path you’d like to follow, start really getting into the meat of it! What does it look like? What are the first steps to that type of magic? If for now you’re still eclectic or aren’t sure, then just read what interests you or try more advanced general spells than you have so far.
Go back and do it all again. That’s right. You can also put time into your path or your regular research, but go back and pick up those old books from step one. Read the old articles. Return to the basics and see how your views have become more nuanced, or how you disagree. What details flew over your head the first time? Can you pick up a new form of divination or try something new with your main form? Could those wards and shields be stronger? You get the idea. Once you’ve revisited it, you should have a really solid foundation that will help you no matter what direction you take next!
Other stuff to study on the side: Local folklore, mythology, and types of spirits. You may not want to work with spirits, but sometimes spirits want to work with you! So it’s good to have an idea of what to do if they pop up. What plants grow in your area? What‘s edible? What is used in healing? What plants are NOT edible in your area? What’s poisonous?
If you think there’s another important step that you recommend that I didn’t include, feel free to add it! 🙂
Imbolc helps us say farewell to the hibernation of winter and usher in the bountiful months of spring. I hope that this spread can help you determine what areas of your own lives are stagnant, and how to bring them back to life!
1. Frost: This position represents that which has frozen over in your life. Where do you see stagnation? In what ways have you become stuck?
2. Flame: This position symbolizes the spark that will help you usher in your productive season. What can help you move forward with your goals? What will thaw out your frozen motivation?
3. Flower: This position marks the joys that await you in the spring season. What seeds lie dormant, waiting for the spring to let them blossom? What gifts will arrive with the changing season?
ACACIA: Burned with sandalwood to stimulate the pshich powers.
AFRICAN VIOLET:Burned for protection and to promote spirituality within the home.
ALLSPICE: Burned to attract both good luck and money.
ALOES: Burned to attract good fortune, love, spiritual vibrations, and strength.
ALTHEA: Burned for protection and to stimulate the psychic powers.
ANISE SEEDS: Burned as a meditation incense.
BASIL: Burned to exorcise and protect against evil entities (such as demos and unfriendly ghosts), and to attract fidelity, love, good luck, sympathy, and wealth. This is also an excellent incense to use when performing love divinations.
BAY: Burned to facilitate the psychic powers, and to induce prophetic dream-visions.
BAYBERRY: Burned mainly to attract money.
BENZOIN: Burned for purification and to attract prosperity.
BISTORT: Burned (often with frankincense) as a powerful incense to aid divination.
BRACKEN: Burned in outdoor fires to magickally produce rain.
CEDAR: Burned for purification, to stimulate or strengthen the psychic powers, attract love, prevent nightmares, and heal various ailments, including head colds.
CINNAMON: Burned for protection and to attract money, stimulate or strengthen the psychic powers, and aid in healing.
CITRON: Burned in rituals to aid healing and also to strengthen the psychic powers.
CLOVE: Burned to dispel negativity, purify sacred and magickal spaces, attract money, and stop or prevent the spread of gossip.
COCONUT: Burned for protection.
COPAL: Burned for purification and to attract love.
DAMIANA: Burned to facilitate psychic visions.
DITTANY OF CRETE: urned to conjure spirits and to aid in astral projection (especially when mixed with equal parts of benzoin, sandalwood, and vanilla).
DRAGONS BLOOD: Burned to dispel negativity, exorcise evil supernatural entities, attract love, and restore male potency. Many Witches also burn dragons blood for protection when spellcasting and invoking. When added to other incenses, dragons blood makes thrie magickal powers stronger.
ELECAMPANE: Burned to strengthen the clairvoyant powers and scrying (divination by gazing) abilities.
FERN: Burned in outdoor fires to magickally produce rain. Also used to eorcise evil supernatural entities.
FRANKINCENSE: Burned to dispel negativity, purify magickal spaces, protect against evil, aid meditation, induce psychic visions, attract good luck, and honor Pagan deities.
FUMITORY: Burned to exorcise demons, poltergeist, and evil supernatural entities.
GALANGAL: Burned to break the curses cast by sorcerers.
GINSENG ROOT: Burned to keep wicked spirits at bay, and for protection against all forms of evil.
GOTU KOLA: Burned to aid meditation.
HEATHER: Burned to conjure beneficial spirits, and to magickally produce rain.
HIBISCUS FLOWERS: Burned to attract love.
HOREHOUND: Burned as an offertory incense to the ancient Egyptain god Horus.
JASMINE: Burned to attract love and money, and also to induce dreams of a prophetic nature.
JUNIPER: Burned to stimulate or increase the psychic powers, and also to break curses and hexes cast by evil sorcerers.
LAVENDER: Burned to induce rest and sleep, and to attract love (especially of a man).
LILAC: Burned to stimulate or increase the psychic poers, and tp attract harmony into ones life.
MACE: Burned to stimulate or increase the psychic poers.
MASTIC: Burned to conjure beneficial spirits, stimulate or increase the psychic powers, and intensify sexual desires. The magickal powers of other incenses are greatly increades when a bit of mastic is added.
MESQUITE: The magickal powers of all healing incenses are greatly increaded when mesquite is added.
MINT: Burned to increase sexual desire, exorcise evil supernatural entities, conjure beneficial spirits, and attract money. Mint incense also possesses strong healing vibrations and protective powers.
MYRRH: Burned (often with frankincense) for purification, consecration, healing, exorcism, and banishing evil. Myrrh also aids meditation rituals, and was commonly burned on altars in ancient Egypt as an offering to the deities Isis and Ra.
NUTMEG: Burned to aid meditation, stimulate or increase the psychic powers, and attract prosperity.
PATCHOULI: Burned to attract money and love, and also to promote fertility.
PINE: Burned for purification, and to banish negative energies, exorcise evil supernatural entities, and attract money, as well as to break hexes and return them to their senders.
POPPY SEEDS: Burned to promote female fertility, and to attract love, good luck, and money.
ROSE: Burned to increase courge, indue prophetic dreams, and attract love. Rose incense is used in all forms of love enchantment and possesses the strongest love vibration of any magickal incense.
ROSEMARY: Burned to purify, aid in healing, prevent nightmares, preserve youthfulness, dispel depression, attract fairyfolk, and promote restful sleep and pleasant dreams.
RUE: Burned to help restore health.
SAGE: Burned for protection against all forms of evil, and to purify sacred spaces and ritual tools, promote wisdom, attract money, and aid in healing the body, mind, and soul.
SAGEBRUSH: Burned to aid healing, and to banish negative energies and evil supernatural entities.
SANDALWOOD: Burned to exorcise demons and evil ghosts, conjure beneficial spirits, and promote spiritual awareness. Sandalwood incense is also used by many Witches in healing rituals and in wish-magick.
SOLOMONS SEAL: Burned mainly as an offertory incense to ancient Pagen deities.
STAR ANISE SEEDS: Burned to stimulate or increase the psychic powers.
STRAWBERRY: Burned to attract love.
SWEETGRASS: Burned to conjure beneficial spirits prior to spellcasting.
THYME: Burned for the purification of magivkal spaces prior to rituals, to aid in healin, and to attract good health.
VANILLA: Burned to attract love, increase sexual desire, improve the powers of the mind.
VERVAIN: Burned to exorcise evil supernatural entities.
VETIVERT: Burned to break curses, and for protection against sorcery (black magick) and thieves.
WILLOW: Burned to avert evil, attract love, and promote healing. It is also used by many Witches as an offertory incense for Pagan lunar deities.
WISTERIA: Burned for protection against all forms of evil.
WORMWOOD: Burned to stimulate or increase the psychic powers. When mixed with sandalwood and burned at night in a cemetery, wormwood is said to be able to conjure spirits from their graves.
🌿Basic concepts (Banish, bind, cleanse, ground, etc)
🌿The correspondences of herbs
🌿The correspondences of crystals
🌿The Wheel of the year (if you choose to follow it)
🌿The Moon’s phases
🌿Some constellations
🌿Tea! (What each tea is good for)
🌿Mythologies you’re interested in
🌿Candle Magic
🌿Color correspondences
🌿Soap magic
🌿Essential oils
🌿Write down your dreams
🌿Stargazing events of that year
🌿Info about spirits
🌿Moon water
🌿Sun water
🌿Chakras
🌿The elements
🌿Basic divination
🌿The goals of your path
🌿Your belief system
🌿Your daily rituals
shuffle – shuffle your cards for some time with cleansing intent.
sort the cards – put the cards back in the order of the major arcana from 0-21, wands, cups, swords, and then pentacles. let them stay like this for a short while, until you feel they’re cleansed, and then shuffle them again.
crystals – choose a crystal with your intent and place it on top of your deck, or create a crystal grid around it.
smoke cleansing – pass your deck through the smoke of burnt sage or rosemary, or through the smoke from insense.
sunlight/moonlight – natural light sources give healing energies to your deck. sunlight is more masculine, while moonlight is more feminine. keep this in mind when choosing a light source and what’s best for your deck.
meditation – meditate on the cards. this may be one card at a time or the whole deck at once.
yoga – do yoga with your deck, this will soothe and cleanse you both and create a stronger bond between you and your deck.
sound – use a song, a bell, or an instrument to wash vibrations over and through your deck to release energy.
salt – sprinkle salt gently over your deck or put your deck in an airtight bag and submerge it in a bowl of salt and let the salt absorb pent up energies.
sigils – write a cleansing sigil on a slip of paper and put it in the box or bag with your deck.
fresh air – set your deck on a windowsill by a cracked open window. allow the movement of fresh air to cleanse the pent up energy from your cards.
close contact – keep your deck beside or under your pillow as you sleep to both cleanse and build a close relationship with your deck.
when to cleanse:
brand new deck – if you bought or have been gifted a new or secondhand deck, the best way to sort out its energy is to cleanse it before the first use.
after each use – this is the best way to upkeep the health of your cards.
every day – a great way to take care of your cards, routine cleansing is a wonderful daily ritual for you and your deck.
when someone else touches it – energies can get muddled when someone other than the reader touches a deck.
after a complicated reading – your deck can run out of energy quickly when you ask it to do a complcated reading, and the best way to replenish these energies is to cleanse.
after not using it for a while – stagnant energies will build up in your deck if you go a while between uses. the best way to counteract this is a thorough cleansing.
with your life cycles – whether moon cycles, menstrual cycles, or sleep cycles, cleansing your deck when your energy is high can be a good idea.
whenever your deck tells you – sometimes you will be able to feel when your deck needs to be cleansed. a good cleansing and recharging is helpful when shuffling becomes difficult, you’re getting the same cards repeatedly, or you feel your deck run low on energy.
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