Tag: lavender

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Chronicles and Observation Journal

Chronicles: Smudge inventory

Today I made three smudges: one with rosemary, basil, and cinnamon; one with rosemary, lavender, and cinnamon; and one with just basil and cinnamon.

It’s unusual that I make a smudge with lavender. It’s easy to get in the springtime, but otherwise, it’s rare. I have a lavender plant, but I’ll only cut one of the branches for a smudge if all the leaves on that branch are already dead. That was the case, and so I made a lavender smudge.

That makes a total of 1.5 “special” smudges I currently have, the .5 being the vanilla smudge I half burned around the new moon. I have more vanilla, and so could theoretically make another vanilla smudge, but it’s so expensive that I want to use it for something else first before I burn it.

The rosemary and basil are from the grocery. I have a rosemary plant, but it’s tiny and has only one branch. It amazes me that it’s still alive, as this is my fourth attempt in less than two years to grow a rosemary plant. I gave up on the basil more than a year ago. Adjua Luna’s Temple will have an herb garden, but in that parallel universe, I’m a reliably good gardener. In that universe I cut branches from blissful, thriving plants to make my smudges without ever having a need to worry for the health of the plant.

The cinnamon will probably always be from the grocery. I’m not going to grow cinnamon.

Categories
Spell and Recipe Journal

Recipe: Smudge sticks

Ingredients:

  • herbs/plants (scroll down for suggestions)
  • baker’s twine

Process:

Cut the branches of the plant material you are using into 6-8 inch lengths.

Measure a piece of baker’s twine the width of your arm span.

Bundle the branches together (to your desired thickness).

With the tips of the branches pointing down, begin wrapping the cord tightly around the base of your bundle.

Then, wrap the cord around the bundle (while firmly pressing the plant material together) working your way to the tip of the branches.

When you reach the tip, begin working your way back down toward the base.

Tie the two ends of the cord together at the base.

Set the smudge stick to dry in a basket or on a drying rack for 7-10 days (or as long as necessary).

Uses:

Burn a smudge the same way and for the same reason you’d use incense, as a daily energy clearing ritual, or for more specific purposes:

  • sage – cleanse and purify, banish negative energy
  • rosemary – protect the home, cleanse and purify, elevate vibration
  • cinnamon – protect the home, comfort/warmth
  • basil – attract love, money, abundance
  • lavender – promote calm, serenity, friendly energy
  • fennel – protection
  • dragon’s blood – increases the power of whatever you put it with
  • thyme – invite positive spirits, sweetness
  • rose petals – attract love
Categories
Spell and Recipe Journal

Recipe: Herbal Moon Water

Ingredients:

  • hot water
  • mason jar
  • rosemary (dried)
  • chamomile
  • lavender leaves
  • bay leaf
  • sigil

Process:

I added a handful of dried lavender leaves (the dead ones I picked off my plant), chamomile, and rosemary to a mason jar.

I wrote “abundance” (for Jupiter) on one side of the bay leaf and “protection” (for Saturn) on the other side and added that to the jar as well.

I filled the jar up with boiling water.

I covered the jar with wax paper, put a sigil over the wax paper, and then screwed on the lid.

I’ve left the jar in an east-facing window (because that’s what was available) over the full moon in Cancer. In a few days I’ll move it away from the window and put it on a shelf with all my other mason jars full of potions.

Uses:

  • Add to glamour potions
  • dilute castille soap
  • drink as a tea while reciting an incantation
  • add a spoonful to a vaporizer
  • sprinkle over witchy tools while reciting an incantation to bless said tools
  • pour over your head as a spiritual bath