New Moon Love Connection

0. 
   
   If you are looking for love, perform this rite and you will soon find a lover to satisfy your needs. On the night of the next new moon, take two pieces of a pink or red crystal—rose quartz will do nicely—and place them on the floor in the center of your bedroom. If you are lucky enough to have two garnets of rough rubies or pink tourmaline, by all means use two of those heart stones. Light one pink and one red candle and speak this love and life- affirming chant:
   
   Beautiful crystal I hold this night, Flame with love for my delight, Goddess of Love, I ask of you, Guide me in the path that is true. Harm to none as love comes to me. This I ask and so it shall be.
   

Within a fortnight, you shall receive some kind of communication from a potential love interest. It could be a handsome stranger at a coffee shop who can’t take his eyes off you, or a shy bookworm at a literary reading. Be on the lookout and let your intuition be your guide.

Dreamy Passion Potion

If you are dreaming of real romance, you can bring about visions of your true love to come with this potent potion:

• 3 drops rose oil
  
• 3 drops lavender
  
• 3 drops neroli, orange blossom essence
  
• 4 ounces pure distilled water
  
  Pour all these into a colored glass spray bottle and shake well three times. Fifteen minutes before you retire, spray lightly on your linens, towel, and pillow case. Keep a dream journal on your nightstand so you can record details of the great love that will soon manifest.
  

Clary Sage Clarity Incantation (Any Friday Night)

Here is a handy spell for physical well-being as well as a self-esteem boost. For this witchy approach to preventive medicine, take a green candle on a Friday, dress it with clary sage oil, and speak the following three times:

My health is mine, under this moon divine.
I choose to be well in this healthy body I dwell. No more pain and strife, vital breath of life. Harm to none; health to me.
So mote it be.

Dragons’ Lair Safety Spell (Waning Moon is Optimal)

After an illness or any event wherein you feel the need to rid your home of unhealthy energy, head to your metaphysical five and dime and gather these essences. Anoint your home in order to return grace to your space and protect you from harm. Simply rub any one of the following essential oils, undiluted, on your doorjamb: cinnamon, clover, cypress, dragons blood, frankincense.

Walk through the door and close it securely. Take the remaining essential oil and anoint every other door and window. At the witching hour, midnight, light anointed white candles and place them in every doorway and windowsill. Sing:

My home is my temple,
 
Here I will live and love and be healed. 

And so it is by magic sealed.

Kitchen Witch Alchemy

Marigold blossoms gathered at high noon will raise your energy level. 

Lettuce juice (made in a juicer or food processor) rubbed on your
temples and forehead will dispel sleeplessness.  

Holly was once believed to repel lightening.

Hazel branches make excellent wands and divining rods. Used like pendulums, they help you answer questions.

Garlic guards against evil spirits, disease and bad weather.  

Cyclamen eases the pain of grief.
 
Cucumber peel placed on your temple and forehead cures headaches.

Food is Magic: Color Medicine (All Lunar Phases)

Color has a profound effect on our psychological and physical health. Consider carefully the colors that surround you; each of us have special colors that encourage sound body and mind. For example, if you have a weight issue and lack ambition or energy, you may need more orange in your life. Wear orange clothes and eat foods associated with orange, such as red plums and wax beans. Here are some basic color connections:

Violet is associated with sentiment, melancholy, and religious devotion and can be enhanced by eating chocolate, thyme, and scallops.

Orange, associated with abundance and ebullience, can be absorbed through oranges, squash, red plums, yeast and wax beans.

Yellow is connected to the renown, wealth and power, and excellence, and is best ingested through pumpkin, cheese, rye, oats, lettuce and beer.

Green, the color of everlasting life, friendship and optimism, is concentrated in beef, alfalfa, endive and grapes.

Blue relates to humility, faith and innocence, and is the mainstay of mint, garlic, radishes, sage, turnips, and peppers.

Red, associated with aggression, success, and control, is best absorbed through cabbage, bacon, cherries, lemons, tomatoes and paprika.

Balm for the Spirit: DIY Healing Salve (Waxing Crescent Moon is Optimal)

Any body or herbal oil can be turned into a salve with the addition of wax. When the moon is waxing is especially a perfect time for spiritual growth. The ratio for a body salve is three ounces coconut oil to one ounce of beeswax. If you have a pot of the herb rosemary, pick some fresh leafy stems and crush. Take a fresh lemon, peel it and grind the peel in your mortar and pestle until broken up into fine little pieces. Mix the rosemary and lemon peel together and give one last grind. Use a double boiler to heat the oil slowly and wax until completely melted. Test the viscosity of your salve by pouring a dab onto a cold plate. If satisfied with the consistency, pour off into jars to cool. If you need to add more wax, now is the time to do it.

Balms are simply salves with the addition of essential oils. Add two drops of eucalyptus essential oil and two drops of lemon oil when mix is still warm. Sprinkle in the finely crushed rosemary and

lemon peel into the mix, stir well and seal to preserve the aroma. This balm will have a wonderfully calming effect anytime you use it, and can be rubbed on your temples when you need to reduce stress. It is also really good for your skin. I recommend Sunday night baths, where you slather on the balm before stepping into a hot bath. Take a washcloth and massage your skin, then lie back and relax for twenty minutes. When you drain the tub, your stress will also empty out and you can start your week afresh and ready to handle anything that comes your way.

Pomona’s Skin-Preserving Potion (Full Moon Phase Optimal)

Pomona is beloved as the apple goddess and protectress of orchards. Associated with abundance, the flowering of nature, youth and beauty, her splendor is still celebrated every year in European festivals. One way to retain our blossoming beauty is to take good care of our skin and heighten the health of our complexions with this goddess-blessed prescription for eternal youth. Add the following essential pure oils into six ounces of scentless base oil, such as sesame:

• Two drops apple
  
• Two drops sweet almond
  
• Two drops rosemary
  
• Two drops chamomile
  
• Two drops eucalyptus
  
• Two drops rosemary
  
• Two drops lavender
  

Combine thoroughly and place the mixture into a dark glass jar with a secure lid; shake it before application. Before you anoint your skin each night, utter this spell: 

Pomona, blessed goddess of the groves, We thank you for the fruits of the trees And the flowers of the fields.
Bringer of honey, bounty and beauty. We thank you for the flower of youth From this day forward. So mote it be.

Plant Infusions That Comfort and Heal

Many enthusiasts enjoy several cups a day of their favorite herbal infusion, which is a large portion of herb brewed for at least four hours and as long as ten. I recommend one cup of the dried herb placed in a quart canning jar and filled with freshly boiled water. After the steeping, strain with a non-metallic method, such as cheesecloth or bamboo. Herbal Infusions can be made with the leaves and fruits which provide the magical and healing aspects of this comforting concoction. Many of the favorite kitchen witch herbs contain minerals, antioxidants and phytochemicals, including the list herein. Roots, leaves, flowers, needles and seeds can all be used—depending on which fruit or herb is chosen to be the base. There are some cases when all parts of the plant can be used in some manner, and at others only one or two parts are safe—it is important, when creating a blend from scratch, that the creator has researched ingredients to understand what parts can be used. 
 

What do you need to attend to in your life now? This list of herbs and associations can be your guide; one of the smartest ways to approach this methodology is to brew right before bedtime, and you will awaken to a freshly infused herb. Some of the most popular herbs and fruits used to create infusions are: 

Anise Seeds & Leaves – soothes cramps and aches
Caraway Seeds – aids in romantic issues, helps with colic
Catnip Leaves – makes women even more attractive
Chamomile Flowers – helps with sleep, good for abundance Dandelion Leaves – makes wishes come true
Echinacea – makes the body strong
Ginseng Root – increases men’s vigor
Nettle Leaves – lung function, hex breaking
Peppermint Leaves – rids tummy discomfort, cleansing
Pine Needles – increases skin health as well as financial health Rose Hip Fruit – packed with vitamin C and can halt colds and flu

Sage Leaves – purifies energy, antibiotic
Skullcap Leaves – prevents insomnia, cures St. John’s Wort, anti- depressant protection
Thyme Leaves – antiseptic, a protectant
Yarrow Flowers – reduce fever, bring courage and good luck

Crystal Cures for Every Day of the Week

Gemstones and crystals have healing powers based on ancient belief systems passed down from the Chaldeans and metaphysicians of the old world. Among the treasure trove of knowledge they passed down are these crystal cures:

Sapphire has violet energy; worn first on Saturday on the middle finger of the right hand two hours before sunset, the stone is said to be curative for kidneys, epilepsy, tumors and sciatica.

Diamonds, containing rays of indigo light, are for eyes, nose, asthma, laziness and drunkenness, especially if worn on the right pinkie on Friday with the waxing moon. Worn on Sundays, diamonds enhance spiritual understanding when worn on the left ring finger.

Emerald has green light rays and can help with the heart, ulcers, cancer, asthma, and influenza, when worn on the right side pinkie on Wednesday two hours after dawn. On Tuesdays, wear it on the other hand for calm, sound sleep and to repel bad dreams and nightmares.

Pearls radiate orange rays and operate as a curative for work on Monday mornings. They help with insanity, diabetes, colic and fever.

Topaz has blue rays and helps with laryngitis, paralysis, hysteria, scarlet fever and assorted glandular disorders if worn on the right ring finger on Thursday mornings.

Hedge Witch Herbal Healer (Dark Moon Phase)

In the days of old, the village doctors were elder women, and quite a few utilized the knowledge of hedge witches who knew all the plants of field and forest. For an immune system boost, crush a mixture of equal parts (½ cup each) rosemary, lemon peel, lavender, and the petals of red roses. Place the crushed herbs in a sealable colored glass jar filled with almond or sesame oil, ideally twelve ounces. After seven days on a windowsill, exposed to both the sun and the dark moon, strain and place the infused oil into the jar. Speak this chant aloud:

In this dark moonlight, I will see
That I release anything that ails me.
With the wisdom of the crones of old,
All the blessings of this world unfold.

You now have a hearty supply of homemade healing oil to use in the bath, or to rub on your pulse points: temples, wrists, backs of knees, and behind the ears. As soon as you feel slightly rundown, one application should make a difference. Be sure and whisper thanks to the hedge witches who passed down this sacred healing knowledge.

Goddess Glow (Waxing Moon Phase)

Many witches prefer whipping up their own healing beauty magic. Here’s a simple recipe for a homemade salt rub. The beauty of this recipe is that you can change the essential oils to suit your mood. For example, if you are feeling romantic or preparing for a big date night, use rose and amber oils.

Combine the following:

• Three cups Epsom salts
• One tablespoon glycerin
• Four drops lemon essential oil
• Two drop jasmine oil
• Two drop vanilla
• One drop neroli oil (made from orange blossoms)

Mix well and store in a colored glass jar with a tight lid. Use these salts with the Salt of the Earth body purification ritual to help exfoliate your skin and give you a goddess glow.

Flower Remedy Ritual

Flower essences restore emotional balance and aid physical harmony. Naturopathic doctors and healers recommend using Dr. Bach’s flower remedies, which were originally created from the morning dew found on flower petals. These subtle medicines are available in most health food and metaphysical stores. To know which essences are right for you, take a pendulum and write the essence names on paper in a wheel formation. Holding the pendulum in the middle, wait for it to select one name while chanting:

Spirit of the flower, help me this dayTo keep disease and depression far at bay. Blessed be.

To prepare the following remedies, mix two drops of flower essence in 30 milliliters of distilled water. Take four drops of the remedy daily until your health is restored. You can also apply the remedy to your pulse points: wrists, temples, behind the ears, back of knees. You can also add it to your bath, or spray it into the air. Following is a guide to healing flower remedies:

Addiction: skullcap, oregano 
Anger: nettle, blue flag, chamomile
Anxiety: garlic, rosemary, aspen, periwinkle, lemon balm, white chestnut, gentian
Bereavement: honeysuckle
Depression: borage, sunflower, larch, chamomile, geranium, yerba santa, black cohosh, lavender, mustard
Exhaustion: aloe, yarrow, olive, sweet chestnut
Fear: poppy, mallow, ginger, peony, water lily, basil, datura 
Heartbreak: heartsease, hawthorn, borage
Lethargy: aloe, thyme, peppermint

Stress: dill, Echinacea, thyme, mistletoe, lemon balm 
Spiritual blocks: oak, ginseng, lady’s slipper

Teutonic Tonic

You will notice that many a witch appears ageless. There is a good reason for this; we manifest a lot of joy in our life, including creating potions to take excellent care of our skin for goddess-like youthfulness. This refresher is inspired by the eternally strong and beautiful deity Freya.

Combine these oils in a sealable dark blue bottle:

• 2 ounces sweet almond as base oil
• 2 drops chamomile
• 2 drops rosemary
• 2 drops lavender oil

Shake very thoroughly and prepare to anoint your skin with this invocation:

Goddess of Love, Goddess of Light, hear this prayer,
Your youth, beauty and radiance, please share. So mote it be.

Clean your skin with warm water, then gently daub with the potion. You can also make a salve or balm using my recipe if you want to turn the clock backwards. Prepare to be asked for your beauty secrets.

Create Your Temple Sanctuary: Magical Mandalas and Sacred Space

Spiritual health is just as important as the other kind. Regular maintenance and what I call “inner work” is greatly abetted if you have sacred space where you feel at your best. If you don’t have access to a temple space, you can create a sacred temple space in your own home. The imprint of your own creativity is vital to your personal shrine; it should be decorated with things also made by your own hand. Ideally, your windows allow sacred light to fall upon your designs. This is an artistic endeavor; you are making sacred art. If you do your best work at night, be sure to have adequate lighting. It is also a good idea to reduce the possibilities of distractions and interruptions. It is strongly suggested to turn off phones and television, to create as peaceful an environment as possible.

Bless the space in a fashion of your own choosing with your favorite incense, candles and objects that represent deepest spirituality to you. A magical mandala will greatly enhance your sacred space. The word “mandala” is from the classical Indian language of Sanskrit. Loosely translated to mean “circle,” a mandala is far more than a simple shape. It represents wholeness, and can be seen as a model for the organizational structure of life itself—a cosmic diagram that reminds us of our relation to the infinite, the world that extends both beyond and within our bodies and minds.

Planetary Protection Charms

Planting three red flowers in the new moon will keep trespassers off property and allow the land to return to a wild well-being. I suggest penstemon, wild roses, geraniums or nasturtiums.

To heal and guard an ailing or endangered tree, an old Celtic custom involves tying a red ribbon around the trunk and chanting:

Red for the sap-blood inside this spirit-tree, 
Every Full Moon,
I will retie a cord of magic around thee.
So mote it be!

Love Your Mother: Spells to Heal Nature

Unlike our forebears, modern witches have to help heal Mother Earth. We are charged with crafting spells to restore and nurture the planet, which in turn nurtures us. In spring, on the Vernal Equinox, March 21, sprinkle clover leaves, ground mistletoe, and cinnamon on the ground while walking widdershins, or counterclockwise. Face north with right arm raised, and say aloud:

I call upon the great powers in the north 
Bless and protect this land,
Bless and protect our beloved Mother Earth! 
Harm to None. So mote it be.

Pendulum of Truth Invocation (New Moon is Optimal)

Many witches carry a pendulum with them at all times to help make the right decisions. I sometimes see pendulums twirling over herbs and produce at the farmers market or hovering over restaurant menus. They have recently become available at most metaphysical stores, but a lovingly handmade pendulum is imbued with more personal energy. An easy DIY way to make your own pendulum is to take a strong string or length of leather and tie a ring, gemstone, or crystal to the end. By the light of the new moon, take a bundle of sage, light one end and pass the smoke over your pendulum, “smudging” and purifying your space.

Wear the pendulum around your neck for seven days. Each night, light black candles on your altar to absorb negative energy and, holding the pendulum still, chant:

Guide me to the path of truth, O goddess hear my song.
This pendulum I charge with my energy, to judge right from wrong. 
So mote it be.

On the seventh day, you can begin using your new tool. Any time you need advice before making a decision, dangle the pendulum and observe its movement—swaying from front to back means yes, left to right means no.

Botanical Bliss: Garden Your Way to Happiness (Waxing Moon is Optimal)

For healing, plant sage word sorrel, carnation, onion, garlic, peppermint and rosemary.

For dispelling negative energy, plant heather, hawthorn, holly, hyacinth, hyssop, ivy, juniper, periwinkle and nasturtiums.

Farming and working with plants is guided by the moon, and should take place during the waxing moon in the signs of Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces, Capricorn and Taurus.

Hope and Healing Candle Consecration

Recently, I have been wishing and hoping for peace in this world of ours, as have most of us. I have been making, burning, and giving away candles with the word “peace” written with crystals embedded in the soft candle wax.

If possible, perform this spell during a full moon night for the greatest effect. Place your stained-glass peace candle on your altar and light rose incense, which represents love and unity. Light the candle and chant:

I light this candle for hope,
I light this candle for love,
I light this candle for unity,
I light this candle for the good of all the world 
That we should live in peace. And so it shall be.

Sit in front of your altar and meditate, eyes closed, for a few minutes while visualizing peace in the world. Let the candle burn completely for full charging. Whenever the world around you feels chaotic, light this candle and meditate on a sense of peace enveloping you. And it will.

Citrine Serenity Ceremony (All Moon Phases)

Light a yellow candle for mental clarity, and anoint with calming and uplifting bergamot oil. Place a yellow rose in a vase to the left of the candle. To the right, place a bowl containing at least two citrine or quartz crystals.

Saffron water is made by boiling a single teaspoon of saffron from your cupboard in two quarts of distilled water. Let cool to room temperature and pour into the bowl of crystals. Put your hands together as in prayer, and dip your hands in the bowl. Touch your “third eye” in the center of your forehead, anointing yourself with the saffron water. Now, speak aloud:

Goddess great, fill me with your presence.This night, I am whole and at peace.
Breathing in, breathing out, I feel your safe embrace. 
And so it is.

Sandalwood Spell for Grounding (Waning Moon and New Moon)

Sandalwood, from the Sanskrit word chandana, has been used for thousands of years in India. The woody, sweet smell clears your mind and reconnects you to the earth. This simple spell can actually be used every day as prayer, or to prepare for meditation. Light a stick of sandalwood incense and “smudge” the area with the soothing smoke.

Anoint a brown candle with sandalwood oil. In scentless base oil, such as canola, olive or sesame, add:

• Six drops sandalwood oil
• Two drops lemon oil
• Two drops amber oil

Warm this concoction in a clay oil lamp or carefully heat it on the stove. When it is warm to the touch, dip your left ring finger into the oil and anoint your “third eye,” located in the center of your forehead, just above the eyes.

Sitting in the cross-legged lotus position, whisper three times:

Come to me clarity, come to me peace, 
Come to me wisdom. Come to me bliss. 
I sit in stillness, I sit in peace.
As above, so below; and so it is.

Meditate for twenty minutes, and then massage the warmed oil into your feet. You will be utterly and blissfully grounded now.

Misty Moon Potion (Waxing Moon is Optimal)

If you are dreaming of true abundance, with the understanding that health is more important than wealth, you want to feel your best. You can bring this about with this potent potion:

• 3 drops vanilla oil
  
• 3 drops lavender
  
• 3 drops orange blossom essence
  
• 4 ounces pure distilled water

Pour all these into a colored glass spray bottle and shake well three times. Fifteen minutes before you retire, spray lightly on your linens, towel, and pillow case. Keep a dream journal on your nightstand so you can record details of the dreams of abundant health that will soon manifest.

Moon Stone: Personal Power Crystal Blessing

You can perform a blessing on a single stone and keep it with you at all times. I keep an amethyst crystal chunk on my nightstand and another one that is a candleholder in my office. As a Pisces, I want my birthstone energy with me for strength, stability, and a love connection with the universe.

Choose a crystal to become your touchstone. Begin charging your crystal on your altar during a full moon. Light a white candle for purification and then place your hands on the stone. Chant thrice:

Goddess of Night, moon of this night,
Fill my stone with your white light.
Instill this stone with your magic and might;

Surround it with your loving sight. 
So mote it be.

Perform this spell three nights in a row. Then you can begin to draw energy from your personal moon stone. Your sanctified stone will be a source of strength, wisdom, and love you can turn to whenever you are down and in need of a boost. And, best of all, you can take it with you.