so most herbs have multiple associations, so the same way that we saw in our days of the week episode some of the herbs that we talk about appeared on different days associated with different days and different planets. so that means you can find one herb that you can program and set in five different ways instead of buying or collecting five different herbs, which is much more efficient and cost-effective and space saving. so we each broken down into our most used used so we can kind of give you the different ways that you can program it and hopefully this will help you get an idea of what might be the most helpful in your spell work. so I will get started because I think my list is a bit shorter than Tara's.
So the first one on my list that I would say out of all of them is my most used as Rosemary. Rosemary is an herbal protection and it goes with spiritual cleanser and can bring in good luck and Fortune. so that is some thing as a hearth which that is incredibly useful to me. it's also associated with love it's good for focus and study so this is something that cab be again programed many different ways for many different intentions. it's also very hearty plant and fast growing so it's good you grow that yourself it's fairly easy you don't have to have like a super green thumb like I don't think growing anything is easy not exactly a hard though as hard as other things to keep alive it's very hearty plant. and so it's also great in cooking so it's ideal for a kitchen witch, we will get into Rosemary when we talk about baking breads and things, and you can also use rosemary to burn when you are doing a home cleansing. We're going to talk about exactly how to do a home cleanse in a future episode, But you do you know burn some sort of herb and use a smoke within your house and a lot of people use sage for this but sage is not my favorite just for variety of reasons I'm not in love with the smell and the kind of smoke that it makes, it just it's not one that works for me as well as Rosemary does. so Rosemary can be used instead of sage which is how I use it.
T: just Rosemarys also on my list I did want to add that it is excellent for repelling mosquitoes bugs are insanely attracted to me so much so that sometimes I have to avoid nature but this is a really good herb to use and I actually put it in a conditioner and use in my hair to keep mosquitoes away from me .
S: But I have used Rosemary as a hair rinse, it has a lot of good properties for your hair. things have been wild lately guys can we just, this country has been wild lately so Tara and I have a relatively abandon our YouTube channel and Instagram in the last couple of weeks, but we would like to get back to posting some things on our YouTube channel we are mostly just posting podcasts make it easier for people to listen to you but we want to post other sorts of videos of one that I was considering posting was showing how exactly how to make a rosemary glamour hair rinse spell work. If that something some sort of spell that you would be interested in let me know and I will try to make that YouTube video happen yes.
T: it also repels mosquitoes so I'm interested in all the things that make the bugs leave me alone.
S: so if you are like Tara let me know if you're interested. The second one on my list is chamomile. it is connected with solar energy, gold energy so it's used in prosperity workings for happiness and success. so I talked about that one of the things that you most often in my spell work. it can also be added to other working to make it more successful so whatever the working is adding in a little bit of chamomile will make that entire working more successful. It is also good for sleep and meditation so that's probably why used to get a lot in tea there's a lot of chamomile tea and they are touted as something that can help you sleep at night that's because chamomile is it good for sort of relaxation and meditation and things like that.
T: but if you're like me and you hate the way it tastes brew a cup of tea and just breathe it in.
S: The next on my list is lavender, another one that I use often because it is used in cleansing and good luck spells. it's also good for healing, longevity, stress relief and insomnia and I think most people do associate lavender with the stress relief. it's one of the most common sense used in oils that you defuse or spray on your pillows are things that are used in the bedroom to kind of help create a relaxing atmosphere and help you sleep.
T: I use it in the bedroom. to help me sleep to clarify.
S: Next on the list is mint which is good for purification and protection. it also attracts money, increases wealth and draws in good spirits. so it's good to use in the kitchen for nausea, stress relief, healthy skin and hair and also digestion and I think a lot of people know that you guys are as a lot of mint teas going around.
and the last one that I wanted to mention that I do you sometimes but not that often because I feel like those four that I mention kind of cover a lot of the traditional spell work that I do but we talked about white candles being sort of the candle that you can use to replace any other color if you don't have it and clear quartz being the crystal that you can use to replace any other Crystal if you don't have it. so marjoram is this version in herbs. So you can use marjoram to replace absolutely anything else. Which is good to know and good to have on hand So you're not going out and buying you know 40 different herbs and wasting it because you never use again.
T: I actually planted some this year I don't normally use it but I've been having trouble getting herbs in during all the things that of been happening in the world so I planted them.
S: well Tara it is your turn to add all of the things you want to add to this list.
T: so I threw these together very last minute so I apologize but mine are not gonna be as detailed but as you can tell from the interruptions when Steph was talking I also use lavender and Rosemary quite a bit in my practice. Rosemary I love I think it's one of the best herbs to use for pretty much almost anything. again you can add it to anything you want just to be like I would like to give you a little extra umph. so I use it a lot I also have that planted in my kitchen currently. Lavender, so before I get into all the herbs, I do want to say that I got additional planting space during all of this because I had time at home by myself and my dog and so I planted about 50 new herbs, spices, edible things, not weed but like onions and peppers and everything, because I'm a kitchen witch and I like the kitchen. so I got additional planters so when I say planted something for the first time it doesn't mean it's growing... so I agree with mint as a really good very versatile useful herb. I prefer peppermint. when you are first thing started I'm not saying you need a specific type of mint but as you develop your practice if you end up going having a really vivid interest in mint there's a huge difference and I do not like using spearmint in my practice at all. I think it's too harsh and it's just kind of jarring where is peppermints a lot more soothing. it's cleansing to vote the spirit mentally, if I have a lot of trouble focusing, I have a peppermint lotion to dab on my temples to help me find my focus. Also peppermint is really good for allergies and I had terrible terrible allergies, that is wonderful for allergies so if that some medicinal uses, but I find peppermint to be so useful, which is my personal use of it are use it in magical workings as well spearmint to me is not the correct type of mint to use like I said when you're first going out to the world of witchcraft and you start experimenting with different herbs I really suggest starting with any mention get hands-on. there's a lot of commercially available are dried mints that are easy to get the grocery store or can get a small mint plant mint grows very very easily and it doesn't need a lot of space so if something is really good to put in like a small kitchen garden. also be warned if you put it in a larger space it will spread.
Basil, I use a lot of basil. It's very cleansing to the home. I use it for prosperity success and protection as well as a purification and happiness. I use it a lot recently with all the upheaval's in my work life. I didn't use it as much before the last couple month, I will throw that out there but I've use it quite a bit it. It really helps with spells of prosperity success as well as settle. I needed some settling and protection on the job front, so I've been using it quite a bit recently.
cinnamon I highly recommend again it's for success, action, healing, energy it's really really good for giving yourself is an energy but it's just even smelling a cinnamon stick or I like to use it and making a lot of different drinks apple ciders, mulled wines but it's also really good if you grind it up on foods you can use it working. Be careful of pure cinnamon, you don't want to breathe that in. Stick yes breathe it in, if it's a fresh powder maybe don't do that. It gives you a lot of energy but has a lot of energy on it's own.
Ginger is another one as you can tell this list is very practical for the year now, it stimulates finances it fight colds, it calm stomachs it's suppresses nausea. that's one of the reasons why it's recommended so highly for people that are pregnant it doesn't have any harsh chemicals or medicines in it but it is amazing to settle stomachs and with all the upheaval my stomach has not been happy with me recently. so I really like ginger, I don't add it to many foods I'm actually not a huge fan of how it tastes but I use it almost exclusively in a lot of my finance workings or I combine it with cinnamon it smells amazing by the way together.
Rose, roses, I use roses all the time. I have a rosewater face wash that I use, A lot of people use rosewater face wash is that is rosewater mix with something else I just use straight rosewater. it's really easy to make I stored in a glass bottle and it has wonderful things for my skin. it makes me happy. I use the rose petals to make tea as well you can make rose petal jam which is just a really comforting thing. if you ever come to my house and I have some, I love to share it with people I love because it is in both the feeling of happiness. I also use it in like I said some of my workings just general happiness settlement it just gives a Home a welcoming vibe when people come in and have rose anything. I've made rose scones I've done rose jelly. I've never done rose wine but it's just it's a love and happiness. it just invokes family to me and almost everyone I know that's had anything with Rose ,it's really hard to be mad when someone gives you a rose. So General happiness, love, just knowing the connection to family and friends in a time when you might not be able to see them. it's it's a really good what I consider herb to use in different workings.
S: yeah technically roses a flower but when we say herbs we do include flowers and roots and things, most witches to. Rose is definitely a very popular one.
T: I love rose I also wanted to throw on the list something that I hate that so many people use I can't pronounce it so Steph's going to help me with that but I hate that one and it's very popular.
S: Patchouli, Tara hates patchouli and I agree with her, I don't like it either.
T: I don't like the way it smells so like Rose really makes me happy this is really makes me kind of angry and I don't know why but I don't use it in any working. if anything on our list invokes a feeling in you other than happiness or energy, if you're angry about it don't use it in your working. There's a lot of spells that I've seen that have this in as an ingredient. I do not use it in that spell. just because it will make me angry and that's gonna mess up the spell work that I'm doing. so if anyone tells you to use a specific herb and this goes for crystals or if it does not invoke good feelings in you don't use it.
S: Unless of course you're doing a negative working. which you know there are negative workings that aren't you know yeah quite as bad like just some things where like you know you're trying to throw off somebody's like directly their negative energy toward you when you want to drive back towards them, that would be considered like kind of a negative working where you're going to use things for like more harsh, darker colored candles and harsh herbs and things but we are going to have an episode coming up talking about that concept of sort of black magic and things that are considered kind of negative, the morality of cursing and hexing and things. Those are coming up in our podcast. We're trying to go in order of like let's start at the beginning, and cursing and hexing is not at the beginning.
T: if you're getting into witchcraft just a hex someone you need to find some therapy
S: so we are going to get into that but if you are someone who is going to use cursing and hexing in your practice and the other things that we're going to talk about, things that are more negative, hot foot powder and things, then we're going to get into that but you should know that like when we talk about these things and we like all of it doesn't do you know invoke happiness, well if it doesn't then consider it for your more negative workings. maybe that'll work for you. we will get that later.
T: I should've phrased it yeah like what is the end goal of you're working, you're going to aim for that feeling. like yeah I just that plant makes me angry so I do not give around I do not give me my home. So I just wanted to throw that out there as a disclaimer like just because I love rose I would use it in like almost every spell ever, it won't work and every spell ever it's not that it's not that you can't do it. so if you disagree with any of our recommendation that's completely fine find a substitute or find a different spell, like it's fairly simple like we said things need to work with you not against you and this herb just works against me.
S: we just wanted to end this by talking about some tools and some book recommendations. so for tools, really talking about if you are going to grow and dry herbs yourself, so in witchcraft you really want to use most of the time dried herbs instead of fresh. and there are a lot of reasons for this but it mostly comes down to you dont want to be wasteful, dried herbs last longer sitting on a shelf and dried herbs are more concentrated of that associative property that has with it and that specific intentions were as a fresh herbs art have a lot of different you know associations with them and it's just not as strong to you use a sort of your spell work. it's better to use the dried herbs to get the effect that you're looking for.
T: so yes like when I make rosewater for my skin I don't dry them, but if I'm using them in spell I do dry them, the Rose petals, they work better.
S: so some of the tools we just wanted to quickly run through that might be helpful to you is to get a drying rack or basket. there are a lot of different ways to dry herbs, you can do them in the oven, you can dry them out in a basket, in the microwave are a lot of different ways.
but obviously if you do not want to grow and dry your herbs they are everywhere. A mortar and pestle is usually helpful for grinding thing down. filters are of course helpful, especially if you are using the herbs in tea or in cooking and you don't want the actual chunks in your tea, you would need some sort of filter. and storage jars and then we talked about this in traditional witchcraft tools, a cauldron a grimoire just to keep track of everything that you are using and the boline which is the knife that is traditionally used to cut herbs. so like we talked about in that episode you don't actually need anything so if you don't want to buy anything and you don't want a special knife, you can still work with herbs and not have anything on this list. These are just common things that are used.
The last thing we want to mention are a couple of book recommendations. so we did talk about these when we talked about beginners books in general we just want to bring them up again it's associated with herbs just you know to refresh your memory ,if you want to look something up so the first one that we want to mention is the encyclopedia of magical herbs by Scott Cunningham. We talked a lot about Scott Cunningham in that original episode and books for beginners because he has a lot of encyclopedias, not just herbs but he has them on different subjects so this is one that has everything in it, you don't read it cover to cover, you just look up the specific herb. That one is incredibly helpful.
The next one on the list is the Garden Witch's Herbal by Ellen Dugan. I don't know if we mentioned that on the original podcast but it is a very good again reference book for different types of herbs related to witchcraft and also the Green witch by Erin Murphy hiscock which we did talk about and it has been very popular lately, you see it a lot on Instagram it has definitely been making the rounds. and it's incredibly helpful for it's called Green witch but you don't have to technically be a green witch, but it is very helpful in terms of herbs and just learning about them, each different one but also learning about growing them and how to dry them and things like that are included in that book.
T: and that one's not I mean it is a reference book but it's a lot less straight reference as the other two are. it does have really good information on it in it but it's a lot easier to get through in like a sitting over a weekend or something rather than the other two which I would say or more straight reference that you're just gonna want to pull out to look at specific thing.
S: and the last thing I want to mention that isn't exactly a book. a lot of people don't want to sit down and read some thing that dense or to look it up but still really want to learn about herbalism are considering becoming an herbalist and want to learn about a lot of different herbs not just you know the specific ten that we mentioned today. a good way to do this would be to get a deck of oracle cards so my oracle cards are kind of all over the board and they have there's a lot of different oracle cards different decks and different options but there are a couple of options that are all about herbs. So when you draw one, it is associated with that particular herb. So On that card or all of the different properties in ways that you could use it in your spell work. so if you're not the type of person who likes to sit down and read books like this but you still want to learn about them getting an herbalism oracle deck would be a great option where you could just haul one part each day and completely learn about that herb.
We will be back next week to talk about Tea, all right we will see you next week
Did you ever post the rosemary glamour rinse?
ReplyDelete