Tag: smudge

Categories
Spell and Recipe Journal

Recipe: Intention sticks

Ingredients:

  • cinnamon (the kind for burning)
  • 3-10 bay leaves
  • baker’s twine or embroidery thread
  • (optional) basil, lavender, or any other herb that corresponds with your intention

Process:

Choose a number of bay leaves that corresponds with how long your cinnamon stick is. If it’s a short stick, only use three bay leaves. If it’s a long stick, you may be able to use 9 or 10 bay leaves.

Write your intentions on the bay leaves with a sharpie. You can write the same intention on each one, or you can vary them, but it will be more powerful if you keep them all at least thematically similar. Also, you can write your intentions in words, symbols, numbers, sigils, or however feels most powerful to you.

Boil the bay leaves in a pot of water for at least five minutes. (This is a good time to do a bay leaf and cinnamon boil but don’t use the same piece of cinnamon.)

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

Align one of your wet bay leaves with the bottom of your dry cinnamon stick. Tie the bay leaf to the cinnamon with bakers twine, and wrap the twine tightly around both.

Continue wrapping the twine around the cinnamon stick, adding more bay leaves as you go up.

When you reach the top, work your way back down. Tie the two ends of the twine together at the bottom.

Set the intention stick to dry on a rack for 7-10 days or until the bay leaves are completely dry.

Uses:

  • Hold one end of this stick over a candle and let the smoke carry your intentions into the spirit realm.
  • Leave it smoldering in a fire safe bowl or abalone shell while you meditate on your manifestations.
  • To make an offering to your spirits/deities/ancestors, write intentions like “gratitude” and “worship.” Hold this over a candle while you commune with your spirits.
  • For a love spell, use rose petals instead of bay leaves (if they’re fresh you won’t have to boil them first), and write the names and birthdays of the lovers on the rose petals.
  • For a money spell, write money sigils or the amount of money you need on the bay leaves and wrap the cinnamon in a basil leaf before adding the bay leaves.
  • For a protection spell, tie a rosemary branch to the base of the cinnamon and wrap the bay leaves around both. Use it like you would a smudge to bless and cleanse your house.
  • To manifest peace, tie a lavender branch to the base of the cinnamon and wrap the bay leaves around both. If you only have lavender leaves, wrap the bay leaves around the cinnamon stick and wrap the twine around both. When you get to the top, wrap the lavender leaves around the bay leaves and cinnamon, and wrap the twine around all three to work your way back down.

Categories
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
Chronicles and Observation Journal

Chronicles: A visit from Money and Pleasure

I felt drawn to the basil-cinnamon smudge today. I felt drawn to the Money deity from that course I took with Carolyn last year. Adjua Luna doesn’t mind that. She’s friendly with all deities. Some days ago I bargained with her. Bargained is the wrong word. I “talked back” to her? Regardless, I demanded a small monetary win, just big enough and direct enough to be obvious that it was from her. I got my response in the form of an unexpected $20-ish royalty check.

I’m still not sure how to talk about my money situation. I don’t know if I should actively manifest with my words, or if I should describe what I see. This was a problem when this blog was private, and even more so now that it’s public. Maybe that’s not the point. Maybe money and how I choose to talk about it isn’t the point.

But if it’s not the point, why was I called to burn the basil today? Why was I drawn to her today?

I’ve also burned the last of the Jupiter-Saturn candle. It burned down to the clip, but left a blue and black cliff on one side of the candle holder. I removed the clip and stuck in a vanilla votive, which has melted into an ivory-blue-black melange of colors, scents, and intentions. The complicated dance between expansion (Jupiter energy) and structure (Saturn energy), leaves cliffs and cracks for the softness of the vanilla (feminine energy) to smooth over. This was after I was admonished by the god of Pleasure for ignoring her even for one day. She held a hand against my throat and whispered cruelty into my face as she sometimes does. I only notice her when she’s direct. It was she who wanted the vanilla candle.

So what’s next after a sign and an admonishment but to do the thing I’ve been called to do?