Home Protection Potpourri

Simmer this mixture whenever you feel the need to infuse your home and heart with the energies of protection. This will safeguard you and your loved ones from outside influences that could be negative or disruptive. Set your intention and gather together the following herbs:

1⁄4 cup rosemary
4 bay laurel leaves
1 tablespoon basil
1⁄8 cup sage
1 teaspoon dill weed
1⁄8 cup cedar
1 teaspoon juniper berries

Mix the herbs together by hand. While you are doing this, close your eyes and visualize your home as a sacred place protected by a boundary of glowing white light. Imagine that the light runs through you to the herbs in your hand and charges them with the energy of safety, sanctity, and protection. Add the herbs to a pan filled with simmering water. When the aromatic steam rises, intone:

By my own hand, I have made this balm;
This divine essence contains my calm.
By my own will, I make this charm;
This precious potpourri protects all from harm.
With harm to none and health to all,
Blessed be!

Eco-Detergents and Nontoxic Paint

We all want to live in an enchanted cottage, a charming residence in every sense of the word. Several years ago, I learned that all the chemicals in our conventional cleansing products introduce potential toxins into our lives, along with a certain amount of negative energy. Who likes the smell of raw bleach, over-perfumed detergents, and those scary oven cleaners? They strip away the natural and are simply too harsh. It is even a danger to have them around young children whose curiosity could lead them into trouble. I think we can all agree it makes a lot of sense to simply not have anything in your kitchen cabinet that is marked “poisonous.” There are so many options that are inexpensive and will make your home and anyone who walks in the door feel healthier and happier. Creating your own all-organic green witchery cleaners gives you the opportunity to put the most magic into every surface, room, and corner of your home. Every time your home is cleaned using these pagan potions, you are bettering the vibrations of your home, creating healing energy, eliminating toxins and introducing a light, bright positivity right where you live. There is no more powerful enchantment than this; it is the foundation for a peaceful and pleasurable home.

DIY All-Purpose Cottage Cleaner

• 1 Teaspoon baking soda
• 1 Teaspoon liquid Castile soap
• 3 drops lemon essential oil or 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 quart warm water

Pour the above into a bowl and mix well; transfer to a clean spray bottle and shake. If you have a tougher job than usual, add a cup of white vinegar to the other ingredients. Baking soda is a mild alkaline abrasive, so don’t use it on fine furniture or delicate fabrics. Otherwise, it is quite miraculous for tough stains, rust, ovens, tiles, stain removal, tough greases, smelly fridges, and so many other household chores.

Magical Mushroom Veggie Quiche

This dish can be either a main course served with a leafy green salad or a yummy hot breakfast or brunch with a side of fruit. Make two, and your weekend options are deliciously open. You can also include greens such as nettles, spinach, or chives to add more color and nutrients to your meal.

Gather the following ingredients:

• 5 eggs
• ½ cup milk
• 3 ounces cheese, grated (cook’s choice of cheddar, Swiss, or another family favorite)
• ½ cup washed and sliced button or cremini mushrooms
• ½ cup of chopped greens
• A premade pastry or quiche shell in a greased pie pan (can be store-bought or handmade, depending on how much time you have)

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Whisk the eggs and milk together and season with salt and pepper. Fold in the grated cheese and stir in the mushrooms. Pour the mixture into the pastry shell and pop into the oven for thirty-five minutes. When the top is turning a nice golden brown, remove the quiche from the oven and let it cool. Top with sprigs of aromatic fresh rosemary from your kitchen garden.

Tips ’n’ Tricks: a Box of Rocks

Keep a magic wishing box on your desk. Every so often look at it and make a wish upon your heart’s desire. It’s easy to make: Take a bowl or idleness box and fill it halfway with sand. Place these suggested wish stones in any arrangement you find pleasing.

• *  Agate for a new home,

• *  Amethyst for spirituality,

• *  Carnelian or Lapis Lazuli for a job,

• *  Coral for wanting children

• *  Fool’s gold for money, an

• *  Rose quartz for love.

Tips ’n’ Tricks: Crystal Closure

If you are having a hard time getting away from a relationship that you feel isn’t good for you any longer, get closure by wearing morganite until the other person gets the message.

Candle Conjuration for a Happy Home

Choose a brown crystal, such as jasper, smoky quartz, selenite, or brown jade, to improve and secure positive, grounding energy in your home. Anoint two candles with rose oil and light some cinnamon incense. Place your brown crystal in front of the candles. Meditate to clear your mind of any distractions, which is essential to opening the mental and spiritual space necessary to create. Once you feel focused, light a single leaf or sage bundle and say aloud:

“By my hand
And by the blessing of the spirit,
The fire of home and heart burns bright,
Burns long,
Burns eternal.
I offer my home to
New friends and new love.
Welcome!”

Sweep the Negative Right Out of Your Life- Purification Broom

To purify your home, you need this special broom. A home purification is handy for clearing away bad energy after a squabble with your loved one, a bout of the blues, or just about any upset you need to get out of your personal space. I would go so far as to suggest that you sweep the negative energy outside every morning in your life. Bear in mind, this is not white glove-type cleaning; it is a symbolic act that is quite effective in maintaining your home as a personal sanctuary.

You can make your own purification broom from straw bound together and attached to a fallen tree branch, or you can add mojo to a store-bought broom. Wrap copper wire around your broom or use it to bind the straw to the stick, as Venus-ruled copper lends an aura of beauty and keeps negativity at bay. Attach crystals to the handle with glue to boost your broom. Recommend crystals for space clearing and purification are:

Amber for cheeriness

Blue lace agate for tranquility

Coral for well-being

Jet for absorption of bad energy

Onyx for protection

Petrified wood for security

Tiger’s-eye for protecting your psyche from energy draining powers

Turquoise for relaxation and calmness

Rings of Power

You can follow the exact steps above to make yourself finger rings that can bring more grace and less grief into your life. Think about the different areas of your life and then create an entire collection of rings to sprinkle a little magic into those areas.

Study the descriptionary in Part Two of this book, and you can explore and discover dozens of marvelous stones from which to choose. Do you want to be more creative? Try tiger’s-eye. Need to find a job? Plume agate is your stone. Looking to add some pizzazz to your love life? Alexandrite will bring lots of zest. Feeling blue? Citrine or jet can banish dark days. Stressed out? Rhyolite races to the rescue!

Belts

Waist jewelry has recently made a big comeback. People are going beyond belts and wearing belly chains and lariats. Gemstone belts and buckles can really enhance your joie de vivre and give you greater physical strength and health. Turquoise stones are grounding, and agates raise the energy level. For healing power, try bloodstone. For keeping life on an even keel, the organic-gem family—shells, corals, and abalone—is optimal. For impetus and motivation, wear carnelian. To boost your health and well-being, wear red coral for the lungs, bloodstone for the heart, and moonstone during pregnancy.

Ankle Bracelets and Toe Rings

Bejeweled feet and ankles are very sexy. Jewelry in this area of the body is also grounding and stabilizing. If you are dealing with anxiety or substance-abuse issues, wear amethyst around your ankle. If you’re feeling drained of energy, jasper or rock crystal will come in handy. Rhodonite will do the trick if you are feeling disconnected or restless.

Lady of the Silver Moon Charm

Put a silver coin at full moon in a bowl of water. 

Look up at the moon and soak in the light. 

Whisper the following spell three times:

Lovely lady of the moon, bring to me health and wealth. 
Fill my pockets with silver and gold,
As much as my purse can hold.
Blessings to all; blessings to me.
Blessed be.

Salt of the Earth Rejuvenation Ritual

Salts have been used to purify the body, by way of ritual rubs, since ancient times in the Mediterranean and Mesopotamia. Beauties from the biblical era utilized this simple curative of natural salts to exfoliate the skin and enhance circulation, vital to overall body health. There are wonderful imported Dead Sea salts readily available at most bath and beauty stores, or you can make your own using Goddess Glow recipes, one of the kitchen cupboard cures that follows.

To prepare for your body glow session, light a white candle, step out of your clothes and into your tub or shower, and hold the salts in the palms of both hands, praying:

Aphrodite, in your wisdom, help me reflect your image;
My body is a temple to thee, goddess.
Here, I worship today with my head and hands, heart and soul. 
Blessings to all, blessings to thee, blessed be me.

Use the salts with a new loofah sponge and scrub yourself vigorously during the waning moon or new moon at midnight.

Rejuvenation Invocation: The Water of Life

I advise any witchy gardener to have a rain barrel to make the most of stormy weather; you can water your pots of herbs and garden during sunnier days and dry spells. On the first day of the rainfall, place a blue glass bowl outside as a water-catcher. Bring it inside and place on your altar beside a lit candle. Speak:

Water of life, gift from the sky,We bathe in newfound energy, making spirits fly!

Dip your fingers in the water and touch your forehead. Meditate upon the healing work you and your garden can do, thanks to the nurturing rainfall. Pour the water into the ground of your garden, speaking the spell one last time.

Green Thumb Thursday Spell

On a Thursday, as the moon waxes, light green and purple candles anointed with pure lotus or sandalwood oil. Place a small ivy or fern on your altar, along with a glass of fresh water containing a pearl or piece of jade. Burn a stick of sandalwood incense in a pot of soil placed at the altar’s north quadrant and meditate on your hopes and dreams.

When the incense has burned down, place the plant in the larger container, then bow and pray:

As this living thing expands, so shall the power of this magic space grow. 
Oh, Goddess, I dedicate my magic to you. Harm to none and only good 
work from this holy place.
Blessed be.

Bury the jewel in the soil and use the water from the glass to water the plant. Keep your plant “familiar” with you. You will grow in health and power together. I also encourage you to continually revitalize your altar by adorning it with sacred objects—an iridescent feather, an egg-shaped pebble from the side of the road, a rosy pomegranate, or any other sacred object you find will make a perfect altar gift.

Friendly Feasts: Rite of Connection

Before you enjoy a friendly repast together, hold hands and recite:

Sister, brother, tribe of the soul, ones who care. Merry may we meet again to share.

Breaking bread and quaffing mead

We draw closer in word and deed.

Blessing of love to all!

Happy Home Spell (Waning Moon Phase is Optimal)

To  anoint  your  home  and  turn  it  into  a  protective  shield  for  you and your loved ones, rub any of the following essential oils on your doorjambs: cinnamon, clove, dragon’s blood, myrrh. Walk through the door into your home and close it securely. Take the remaining  essential oils and rub a bit on every other door and window. Light anointed white candles and place them in the windows and chant the words of the spell:

My home is my temple.

Here I love and love, 

Safe and secure 

Both below and above.

And so it is by magic sealed.

Energy Management: House Blessings (All Moon Phases)

This magic tool was born centuries ago from the practical magic of sweeping the ritual area clean before casting a spell. With focus and intention, you can dispel negative influences and bad spirits from the area and prepare a place for ritual work. In bygone days, pagan marriages and Beltane trysts took place with a leap over the broom, an old tradition of hand-fasting, the classic witch wedding. Over the centuries, this rich history combined to capture the imagination as the archetypal symbol of witches.

Your broom is an essential tool for energy management. Obtain a handmade brook from a craft fair or your favorite metaphysical five and dime. This should not be a machine-made plastic one from the supermarket, although I did get a long cinnamon-infused rush broom from Trader Joe's that I use in my witch's kitchen. A broom made of wood and woven of natural straw will be imbued with the inherent energies of those natural materials.

This is very important - do not use your ritual broom from housekeeping. Like me, you may view every inch of your home as sacred space, but you will need to keep your regular housekeeping implements from those you use for magical workings!

In general, it is not advisable to use your ritual knife for deboning a chicken, for example, as this risks a confusing blending of the mundane and magical energies. If you treat your ritual tools with the utmost respect, they will serve you very well. Over time, they will be inculcated with magic through exclusive use in your ritual workings. The Wiccan tradition holds brooms in high regard, and some witches have an impressive collection of brooms, each one named to distinguish their roles as "familiars," or kindred spirits. Kitchen witches often have the most extensive bevy of brooms of anyone.

Metal Magic: Silver for Stability and Health

SilveAligned with the planet and the god Mercury, silver is about communication. Silver has been associated with the moon for thousands of years. 

As such, it is a stabilizer of any crystal or gem. Rather than adding to the energy of a stone, it secures the energy and supports the gem.

Silver is a healing metal that should not be worn all the time; let your body tell you when it feels right. Silver offers a mirror of your inner spirit, and this should be given very special attention. Silver is a detoxifying agent and communicates with the body to alert you to raised levels of hormones and other chemical imbalances. The metal is good to wear as a necklace, as it is very beneficial to the throat and lungs. Your synapses even fire more efficiently because silver acts as an energy conductor. Consequently, silver is good for people encountering memory reduction, psychological issues, and diseases affecting the brain.

In olden days, women wore silver around their waists to improve fertility. Men can do the same—by wearing a silver belt buckle, perhaps—to treat impotence or other sexual dysfunction.

Moonstones are wonderful in combination with the sacred moon metal. Amethyst is also great in a silver setting. Jaspers, agates (especially fire agate), and opals are very suitable in silver. Although diamonds are more often set in gold, they are also terrific in silver settings. The same holds true for sapphires. Lapis, jades, emeralds, and pearls set in silver are said to attract love.

Here is a list of stones you should not set in silver: zircon, tourmaline, and amber. I see amber set in silver all the time, and it is unfortunate because amber is a hot stone and works better with any other metal.

In foreign countries, silver is used in a variety of customary ways. Parents in China, for example, give their children silver-locket necklaces to show love and offer protection and luck. In France, couples wear silver chains upon getting engaged.

Essential Oil Remedies: Sacred Self Care

Essential oils have been used medicinally for centuries.  They are extracted from flowers, grasses, shrubs, herbs, and trees.

If you are skeptical about the efficacy of essential oils, you’ll at least find it reassuring to know that the oils enter and exit the human body without leaving any toxins behind.  The best ways to use essential oils are externally, absorbed through the skin, or through steam inhalation.  However, oral applications are indicated for some remedies.

There are hundreds of essential oils used by herbalists, but for general therapeutic use in the home, these are my recommendations you need to have at the ready,

Lavender Oil

If I could only have one essential oil, I would choose lavender because it is so versatile.  It is a natural antibiotic, antiseptic, sedative, antidepressant, topical treatment for scalds and burns, and a good detoxifier; it prevents scarring and promotes healing, and its lovely scent has a calming effect and is widely used in aromatherapy.

Tea Tree Oil

Used by aborigines in Australia for centuries, tea tree oil is a powerful antibacterial, antifungal, and antiseptic.  It has a fresh camphor smell and is used to treat athlete’s foot, sunburn, candida, and other infections.

Peppermint Oil

A wonderful therapeutic for digestive, respiratory, and circulatory complaints, peppermint oil is used to treat indigestion, irritable bowel syndrome, flatulence, halitosis, catarrh, varicose veins, headaches, skin irritations, and rheumatism.  It also works as a deterrent for infestations of mice, fleas, and ants.  It is not surprising that peppermint oil is regarded as the world’s oldest medicine.

Eucalyptus Oil

In eucalyptus oil, we have an all-purpose antiviral, antibiotic, diuretic analgesic, and antiseptic.  It can be therapeutic for coughs, colds, respiratory stimulation, and insect bites.  If you start to feel cold symptoms, use 5 drops of eucalyptus oil in a hot bath or in a bowl prepared with boiling water for a head steam.

Thyme Oil

Thyme is an “old-time” antiviral, antibiotic, antiseptic, and diuretic curative; it was highly valued and widely used by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans for fatigue, coughs, warts, rheumatism, neuralgia, and acne.  Thyme oil works very well mixed with base oil for massage.

Rosemary Oil

Sweet-smelling rosemary oil is a great antiseptic to use for flu, coughs, headaches, depression, muscular stress, arthritis, rheumatism, fatigue, and forgetfulness.  Rosemary oil is stimulating and will perk you up if you do a head steam with it or put a couple of drops in the bath.

Spelling Success: Talismans for Good Luck

Crystals and gems are totems of abundance and they can be used as talismans for  good fortune.

 For added magic, wear or keep in your pocket one of the following stones:

Red Stones-garnets, rubies, or carnelian- are excellent for attracting positive attention, such as publicity for your recital or poetry reading.

Emeralds and peridot are wonderful for money, the potential for wealth, and successful new projects.

The blue hues of turquoise, topaz, lapis lazuli, and sapphires help you to see clearly and without obstruction.