The Witch’s Toolkit: Everything You Need to Know for Making Fast Magic Part II

Essential oils are natural oils made by distillations of herbs and flowers, ideally organic. They retain the fragrance of the original plant from which they are made. When you are making a blend of oils or a potion or lotion, mix them with a carrier (or base) oil, such as jojoba, almond, apricot, grapeseed, or sesame, to dilute the essential oil and make it safe to apply to the skin. Always test a blend on a small area of the skin first and leave for 24 hours to check you don’t have any reaction to it.

Magical Meanings of Essential Oils

• Psychic power: jasmine, benzoin, cinnamon, sandalwood
• Courage: geranium, black pepper, frankincense
• Dispelling negative energy and spirits: basil, clove, copal, frankincense, juniper, myrrh, pine, peppermint, rosemary, Solomon’s seal, yarrow, vervain
• Divination: camphor, orange, clove
• Enchantment: ginger, tangerine, amber, apple
• Healing: bay, cedar wood, cinnamon, coriander, eucalyptus, juniper, lime, rose, sandalwood, spearmint
• Joy: lavender, neroli, bergamot, vanilla
• Love: apricot, basil, chamomile, clove, copal, coriander, rose, geranium, jasmine, lemon, lime, neroli, rosemary, ylang-ylang
• Luck: orange, nutmeg, rose, vervain
• Peace: lavender, chamomile
• Prosperity: basil, clove, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, orange, oak, moss, patchouli, peppermint, pine, aloe
• Protection: bay, anise, black pepper, cedar, clove, cypress, copal, eucalyptus, frankincense, rose geranium, lime, myrrh, lavender, juniper, sandalwood, vetiver
• Sexuality: cardamom, lemongrass, amber, rose, clove, olive, patchouli

Incense contains inherent energies that you can use to further your intention and promote your purpose. Every New Age store, herb shop, or health food store has a wide variety of cone, stick, and loose incense. Many spells call for creating your own incense mixture, best done by grinding the incense ingredients in a mortar and pestle. You can then store the fine powder in small sealable jars. Craft stores and New Age shops carry the 4-ounce (115ml) lidded jars that are perfect for DIY incenses. This kind of powdered or loose incense needs to be burned on a charcoal cake, usually sold in these same stores in packets of ten. You should set the charcoals in a fireproof glass or clay dish or use your censer from which the smoke will waft out enchantingly. Another kind of sacred smoke you will come to rely on is when you burn sage to purify and clear a space. Sage bundles are readily available at any New Age shop and are essential to keep on hand for much of your ritual work.

A censer, also called a thurible, is an incense burner and represents the elements of Air and Fire. Place your censer at the center of your altar. Incense can be used to purify your other sacred tools and to cleanse your ritual space.

A pendulum is a witchy tool that helps with decision making. Pendulums are easily bought at any metaphysical or New Age shop or mind, body, spirit bookstore, but you can also make your own, with a 12-inch (30cm) strip of string or leather cord and a small rose quartz with a pointy end. Knot the quartz onto your cord and test it to show you which is “yes” and which is “no.” This is done by asking it yes/no questions that you know the answer to, then observing its responses— you will notice it swings in a different way for each one, for example, round in a circle clockwise or anticlockwise, or back and forth.

Keep cord and string in different colors for use in your spellwork—a magic cord is a rope that binds you to magic. I like silken cords as they feel good in your hands and are lovely, but knitting yarn makes for nice string and comes in an endless array of magical hues.

Potpourri is a hedge witch and herbalist’s staple for floral spellcraft. Similarly, you should have a collection of dried flowers, petals, and herbs and mix them into combinations with special energies.

Wands are conduits of energy and your personal magic; as such, yours should be a very special tool either made or chosen with care. Find out more overleaf.

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 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

New Moon Flower Power

This flower-infused potpourri is wonderful for clearing the way for the new in your life and planting “seeds” for new moon beginnings. You can also create a wreath with garlic bulbs for self-protection and insurance that your newly laid plans won’t go awry.

Flower ingredients:
• Rose
• Snapdragon
• Marigold
• Carnation

Place the flowers in a bowl and then sprinkle them with a few drops of geranium, clove, and cinnamon oil. Place the mixture on the south point of your altar for the duration of a full lunar cycle, from new moon to new moon.

Indonesian Full Moon Ceremony

Nearly every temple in Bali celebrates this monthly event.

Essential elements for this ritual are incense, offerings of fruit and lots of flowers, rice, and holy or blessed water.

Gather a group of like-minded folks and head to the nearest body of water—a lake, pond, creek, river or the ocean. Nature will be your temple.

Begin by sitting in a circle and making garlands of flowers. You should talk, laugh or be silent as you wish, but most important, be comfortable. When everyone is settled with a garland of flowers, place the garland around the neck of another person. Light the incense and set the rice and holy water in the middle of the circle.

Go around the circle and offer the water to people, sprinkling it on them gently with your fingertips in the Balinese fashion, and offer everyone a cupful of the holy water to rinse their mouths with so the worst they speak will be holier. Each person should make a fruit or flower offering to the gods, and lay it near the cleansing smoke of incense. After the offerings are made, everyone should anoint their neighbor’s forehead with grains of rice and speak blessings aloud for each person. If a body of water is accessible, get wet, even if it is just to dip your hands or walk in the water.

Silently acknowledge the blessings in your life through prayer and meditation, and, again, give quiet thanks to the gods for the gift of your life. Unlike most Western-based rituals, there is not much talking during the Balinese Full Moon Ritual. Bask in the tranquility and listen to your thoughts.

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

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!

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.

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.

In a Pinch Prosperity Spell

Cinnamon, which you probably have a plentitude of in your kitchen cabinet, is a major source of prosperity and can even bring it about in a hurry. Thursdays are named for Jupiter, or Jove, originally Thor of Norse mythology, who represents joviality, expansion, and all things abundant. Here is a Jupiterian Thursday spell that will bring excellent opportunities your way.

Gather both cinnamon sticks and the powdered kind and place on your altar. On a Thursday, light incense, preferably cinnamon, and walk through your house, wafting the delightfully sweet smoke in every room. Light two altar candles, one brown and one green. Gather flowers, preferably yellow ones, such as daisies and adorn your altar with them. Stand in front of your natural altar and consider the wonderful, full life you are going to enjoy. Pour the cinnamon spice and sticks into a bowl and pray aloud:

This humble spice I offer to the gods who provide all.
I am grateful for all I receive, no matter how small.
Now, I find I am in need,Blessings shall come now with great speed.
As above, so below,The wisdom of the world shall freely flow.
To perfect possibility, I surrender.
And so it is. Blessed be to all.

Prosperity Altar: Using the Laws of Attraction

The full moon is the time for fomenting your intentions and seeing them to fruition. You can increase your prosperity by remembering one of the most basic principles of prosperity: by giving, so shall you receive. To create a prosperity altar, consecrate the area with sea salt. Cover a low table with green and gold altar cloths or scarves and place matching candles on it. Each day, “recharge” your altar with an altar gift such as flowers, jade or other green crystals, golden flowers, scented amber resin, and coin-shaped pebbles.

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.

Gloom Away: Lunar Levity

I don’t know about you, but I occasionally wake up on the wrong side of the bed. The best way to avoid that is to brew up this lovely aromatic spray and use it to scent your bedroom before you retire. When your linens and personal space smell sweet, your dreams are guaranteed to be the same. This custom recipe works wonders on you or anyone in your environment who might need a lift. Combine the following essential oils:

• two drops peppermint 
• two drops bergamot 
• two drops lavender
• four drops rose
• four drops neroli

Add the mixture to a quart of distilled water, and spray the air while chanting:

Gloom and doom be gone.
Welcome, sweet spirits, into this house, 
With harm to none. So mote it be.

West With the Night –A Setting Sun Spell (All Lunar Phases)

To clear energy and prepare for a week of calm clarity, find your favorite white flower—iris, lily, rose, one that is truly beautiful to your eye. Monday’s setting sun is the time for this spell, immediately after the sun goes below the horizon. Anoint a white candle with clary sage oil and place on your altar. Take your single white blossom and add that to your altar in a bowl of freshly drawn water. Place sage leaves on a glass dish in front of the lit candle and speak aloud:

This fire is pure; this flower is holy, this water is clear.These elements purify me.
I walk in light with nothing in my way.
My energy is pure, my spirit is holy, my being is clear. 
White light burns bright in me and all the words I say. 
So mote it be. And so it is.

Burn the sage in the fire of the candle and put in the glass dish where is can turn into ash, smudging as it burns. Stand in front of your altar and breathe in slowly and deeply six times. On the last strongest exhalation, blow the candle out.

White Light of Love: A Waning Moon

To light the flower of love in your heart, time this charm for the waning of  a  New  Moon.  Place  a  green  candle  beside  a  white  lily,  rose or freesia. Make sure it is a posy of personal preference. White flowers have the greatest perfume and either of these beauties will impart your home with a pleasing aura. I like to float a gardenia in a clear bowl of fresh water, truly the essence of the divine. Light the candle and hold the flower close to your heart. Pray, 

Steer me to the highest light; 

guide me to beauty and truth.

Much have I to give.

Much have I to live.

Bright blessings to one and all.

Spring Full Moon: Invocation of the Flower Moon

This  dazzling  spring  Flower  Moon  is  an  optimal  opportunity  to  strive for the new, to initiate a phase of transformation that will last long after the Full Moon has waxed into darkness. This invocation honors the season, planting seeds of positive change in your life to bloom for years to come. Start by gathering red and green apples, candles of the same colors, and seed corn from a gardening store, along with three stalks of lavender and three long strands of night-blooming jasmine. Leave these offerings on your altar all day. 

When the Full Moon of May reaches the highest point in the night sky, light one red and one green candle on your kitchen altar. Wind the jasmine  and  lavender  into  a  crown  for  the  top  of  your  head,  breathing in the lovely scent the flowers produce. Holding an apple in each  hand,  speak  this  spell  while  circling  the  altar  clockwise three times.

Moon of Flowers; light the way to change tonight,

Through the power of Earth and Air, Water and Fire.

As I bite this fruit of knowledge, I am thus inspired.

All possibilities are before me. And so it is.

Eat  from  both  apples  until  you  are  fully  satisfied,  and  then  bury  twelve  corn  seeds  and  the  cores  in  the  rightmost  corner  of  your  garden.  With  the  spring  rains  and  summer  sun,  your  intentions will flower into being. By the fall full moon, you will harvest the bounty of change from this spell, with great gratitude.

Archangel Protection Rite: Angelica Hex Breaker (Waxing or Full Moon)

Whenever you are going through a hard  time or have fears for your family, try this ritual. Angelica, also called the “Heavenly Guardian  Flower,” is said to first  bloom on Archangel Michael’s name day. This positive plant is part of the carrot family and is a tall, hollow-stemmed plant with umbrella-shaped clusters of pale white flowers, tinged with green. Candying the stalks in sugar was an old-fashioned favorite, and  was also traditionally used to cure colds and relieve coughs. Nowadays, seeds are used to make chartreuse, a digestive and uniquely tasty liqueur. This guardian flower is a protector,  as one might expect for a plant  associated with archangels, and is used to reverse curses, break hexes and fend off negative energies. Drying and curing the root is a  traditional talisman, and it can be carried in your pocket or in an amulet to bring a long life. Many a wise woman has used angelica leaves in baths and spellwork to rid a household of dark spirits. If the bad energy is  intense, burn  the angelica  leaves with  frankincense to exorcise them from your space. While you are protecting yourself and your home from negativity during this angelica smudging session, you will also experience  heightened psychism. Pay close attention to your dreams after this; important messages will come through.

Floral Healing Remedies

Flower essences mixed with 30 milliliters distilled water water can also be used as the following remedies:

• Addiction: skullcap, agrimony

• 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

Safe Haven Potpourri

Potpourri was a medieval product revived by the Victorians, who used the symbolic meanings and powers of flowers. Grow flowers in your kitchen or outdoor garden, or buy cut flowers. Dry them, then place them in a pretty container. Choose flowers that connect with your astrological sun sign, moon sign, or personal energy. Try a mix of your personal favorites along with some of the beloved posies of Victorian and medieval times:

• Daisy opens in the morning and closes when the sun goes down; this beloved flower is associated with purity, loyalty, innocence, patience and simplicity

• Pansies are called Heartsease and represent merriment!

• Iris stands for wisdom, faith, friendship, and hope eternal

Under A Waxing Moon

When the first narrow crescent of a waxing moon appears in the twilight sky, place a green candle next to a white lily or freesia. White flowers have the most intense aromas. Anoint the candle with tuberose or rose oil. Take a handful of seeds, such as sunflower, walnuts, or pistachios, still in their shells, and place them in front of the candle.

Close your eyes and recite out loud:

Under this darkling moon,
In Eden fair, I walk through flowers
In the garden of my desires, 
I light the flame of my mind, 
I plant the seeds of things to come.

New Moon Flower Power

This flower-infused potpourri is wonderful for clearing the way for the new in your life and planting "seeds" for new beginnings. You can also create a wreath of garlic bulbs for self-protection and insurance that your newly-laid plans don't go awry.

Flower Ingredients:

• Rose
• Snapdragon
• Marigold
• Carnation

Place the flowers in a bowl and sprinkle them with a few drops of geranium, clove, and cinnamon oil. Place the mixture on the south point of your altar for the duration of a full lunar cycle, from new moon to new moon.