Witchy Lavender Milk Tea

Lammas - a festival to mark the annual wheat harvest, and is the first harvest festival of the year

Quick spell from my grandma that was passed onto her from her mum and however many generations…

Lost something?

Stick a pin in your sofa and it’ll return to you.

Why does this shit work? No clue, fam. But mum and grandma swear by it and I’ll be damned if it didn’t work for me today

energy cleansing and healing spell

-🎐🌿✨🤍💧

this spell isnt necessarily overly complicated as far as components, but it’s a little physically involved, just a note if you’re a witch that has to worry about spoons and such, but on an okay day id say it’s perfectly doable

[ what you’ll need; ]

• white candle

• light pink candle

• yellow candle

• light blue candle

• sage incense

• three small bowls/plates

• mortar and pestle

• rose petals

• fresh thyme

• sugar

• honey

• lavender water

[ steps ]

light your candles, then your incense using the white candles flame. make sure you’re catching the ash cause you’ll need it later in the spell as well

in three separate bowls have your rose petals and then your thyme, then mix your sugar, honey, and lavender water into the third bowl.

place the rose bowl in front of your pink candle, charging it with self love, healing, forgiveness, and compassion.

place the thyme bowl in front of the yellow candle, charging it with healing, energy, happiness, and fulfillment.

finally, place your third bowl in front of the blue candle, charging it with soothing, healing, emotional strength, love, and gentleness.

gently grind together your petals and thyme, then add in some of the incense ash and use a bit of the lavender water to bring it to a pasty-paint-ish consistency of sorts, then add in the third bowls contents and combine, add more water if needed to keep the consistency where we need it

take the sludge and spread it across your face how you see fit, be messy if you want, get carried away, be as gentle or chaotic as you feel necessary and once you’re satisfied that everything’s been perfectly scrubbed with your new intent, rinse it all off with nice cool water and pat dry, follow up with a lavender/rose water/tea tree toner if you’d like, and a light moisturizer ✨

Soups and Broths in Magick

I am rather new to the witch community on tumblr but I have been interested in witchcraft for years. I have come upon a reoccurring thing, many of my friends I wish to magically aid through teas and herbal brews, do not like the taste of tea. I have found that mixing herbal blends or herbs representing what you wish to occur into soups and broths work just as well! In fact if you choose the right soup you can get sometimes better results I have found. Soup mimics tea by being easily drank and can be served warm and hot, which I find very comforting.

First it is important to choose a soup or broth that goes well taste wise with the herbs you wish to use. You want it to taste pleasant for yourself or the one you are providing it to. Though, try to find a soup or stock or broth that corresponds with what you wish to achieve with the herbs to further strengthen and increase the outcome you wish. 

A short list of correspondences:

Chicken Broth/Stock: Uncrossing, new growth, fertility, sacrifice, New beginnings, rebirth

Turkey Broth/Stock: Close connections to Earth, generosity, inspiration, bounty, blessings

Beef Broth/Stock: New beginnings, femininity/female power, fertility, strength, balance

Pork Broth/Stock or Bacon: Intelligence, good luck, prosperity, curiousity, discovering new things

Fish Broth/Stock: Close connections to Water, health, improving oneself, the unconcious mind, awareness, fertility, good luck, wishes, change

Shellfish/Clam/Mussel Broth/Stock/Soup/Chowder: Protection, stopping lies/gossip/rumors, removal or treatment of stubbornness, honesty, truth, close connections to both Water and Earth, living a natural life

Shrimp Broth/Stock: love, abundance, fertility, trying new things, moving forward

Cheese base/Milk base soup/Chowder: Beauty, femininity, love, self-love, purification, rebirth

Tomato Soup: Protection, prosperity, love, uncrossing, femininity, romance and passion, negation of negativity and evil

Pumpkin Soup: Healing, prosperity, love, protection, granting wishes

Squash Soup: Psychic awareness, spiritual enlightenment

Corn Chowder: connections to the sun, luck, prosperity, abundance

Onion Soup: protection, keep evil away, healing, banishing, stability, exorcism, money, lust, and ends bad habits

Pea Soup: Kindness, connections with Air

Mushroom Soup: psychic enhancement, connections to Earth, longevity, strength, immortality

Curry/Curry Soups: banishing, healing, prosperity, protection from negativity

Soups with Noodles: Longevity, uncrossing

Soups with Rice: prosperity, blessing, money and wealth, security, good fortune to come

Soups with Barley: Love, Healing, Protection Hopefully this will be helpful for any witches who are not very big fans of the taste of teas or for anyone else for that matter. I would love to hear or see any other suggestions for tea replacements or other soups that could be used. This came straight out of my Grimoire and I hope to add more of it to this site soon. Blessed be everyone!

Chicken Pot Pie with Scallion Pastry

A comfort-food classic with magical properties of healing, protection, prosperity, and love.

Special equipment: immersion blender

Ingredients

1 double crust pie dough

½ cup chopped scallions (measure green parts only; any white parts may be added to pie filling)

4 cups water

1 large onion, roughly chopped

4 whole garlic cloves

2 celery stalks, roughly chopped

2 large carrots, roughly chopped

2 chicken thighs

1 bay leaf

1 tsp dried thyme

salt & pepper to taste

¼ cup butter

½ cup all-purpose flour

1 cup dried wild mushrooms (can substitute fresh; just sautee the fresh mushrooms ahead of time to remove excess liquid)

1 cup frozen peas (do not thaw)

1 egg, beaten

Maldon flake salt (optional)

Methods

Boil chicken thighs with water, onion, garlic, carrots, celery, bay leaf, thyme, and salt & pepper. Once chicken is cooked through, remove from broth. Discard bay leaf. Use an immersion blender to puree the vegetables with the broth until smooth. Set aside.

Make pastry according to recipe of your choice, but before adding the water, stir in the scallions. Chill pastry.

Rehydrate mushrooms according to package directions. Reserve the water. Roughly chop the mushrooms if necessary. Shred the chicken (or cut into bite-size chunks).

Make a roux: melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture becomes foamy and turns a light golden color. Add 4 cups of the vegetable broth puree and whisk constantly. If necessary, use the mushroom broth to thin out the gravy. Bring to a boil. Boil one minute while whisking; remove from heat. Allow the gravy to cool.

Heat oven to 400°. Roll out pastry and line a pie plate. Mix together chicken, mushrooms, white parts of scallions, and frozen peas. Add enough gravy to reach desired consistency (3-4 cups). Pour mixture into pie shell. Apply top crust. Brush top pastry with beaten egg, and if desired, finish with a light sprinkling of flaky salt such as Maldon.

Bake at 400° for twenty minutes, then cover the edges of the pie with aluminum foil or a pie collar to prevent excessive browning. Bake an additional 25 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the gravy bubbles (total bake time about 45 minutes). Allow the pie to rest at least twenty minutes before serving.

Serves 6-8.

Bay: healing, banishing, success, wishes

Thyme: courage, protection, prosperity

Garlic: love, purification, warding

Scallions: fertility, healing, exorcism

The Witch at Lammas

This post is the fifth in a series of posts exploring and celebrating witch archetypes at the eight seasonal festivals.

Lammas is a festival celebrated on August 1. It is descended from the festival of Lughnasadh, an ancient Celtic festival of Pagan origin. Still celebrated by many Neo-Pagans, Lughnasadh is one of the four “fire festivals.” It is the celebration of the first fruits of summer and it has long had connections to both the grain and hay harvests. It is named after the ancient Celtic sky god, Lugh. The “-nasadh” of Lughnasadh means something like “an assembly”, so the phrase “Lughnasadh” can be taken to mean “the assembly of Lugh” (sometimes translated as “the games of Lugh”).

Lughnasadh is traditionally associated with summer fairs. In ancient times, the “assembly” would have been a great fair, with food and games and opportunities for trading and other financial exploits. This tradition has never died out. It is still common to see fairs throughout the British Isles and even the United States and Canada during this time. Traditionally, Lughnasadh would have lasted two weeks.

With the Christianization of Europe, Lughnasadh became Lammas, its new name meaning “Loaf Mass”. Lammas celebrates the grain harvest, which is honored by making loaves of bread from the freshly gathered wheat. These loaves of bread were blessed by priests during Lammas services. These blessed loaves could then be used for folk magic. Superstitious farmers would break the loaves into quarters and hide them in the corners of their houses or barns for protection.

One theme that is prevalent throughout these celebrations is that of sacrifice. The tale of Lughnasadh is one of tragic death. According to an old Irish legend, the goddess Tailtiu, the foster mother of Lugh, cleared the great forest of Breg with an axe to make the plains of Ireland. These plains became fertile farmland. She wanted to provide for her people. However, the work proved to be too great and when she finished clearing the forest, she died. In her honor, Lugh established a festival of funeral games, which would become Lughnasadh. The Paleo-Pagans who inhabited what is now Britain and Ireland would have honored this festival by lighting great bonfires and giving sacrifical offerings to the gods.

Lugh is associated with the sky, but he is also a god of sovereignity and battle. It was he who slayed the giant Balor and threw his eye into the heavens to create the Sun. Even in his sky “aspect”, he is still a god of skill and war. Ancient depictions of Lugh typically show him wearing a torc and holding a spear. The torc is a symbol of sovereignty - he is a god of kings and rulers - and he holds the spear - a tool of war. He is a god of skill; his wars are not the foolish all-destructive wars of modernity, but are the skilled battles of old. He is truly a god of warriors.

The grain of Lammas is a symbol of sacrifice. Consider the drinking song “John Barleycorn”, which personifies the grain as a man who is murdered and cut to pieces. The grain and all the other first fruits of the harvest season fall at Lammas. The year is in decline. According to legend, in ancient Ireland, an old or senile king , no longer useful as a ruler, would be sacrificed at Lughnasadh. Whether this is a historical truth is a matter of some debate, but this theme still maintains its power.

The Christianization of the festival links it with Christ’s suffering on the cross and also his associations with bread and grain. According to the Bible, it was he who died to cleanse mankind of its sins. He is often called a sacrifical lamb. It was prophesied that he would be born in Bethlehem - the House of Bread. It was he who made the fishes and loaves multiply. It was he who said to eat his flesh and drink his blood, and what is his flesh but bread transfigured?

Because sacrifice is a predominant theme in the Lughnasadh/Lammas holidays, let us discuss the witch as warrior. Despite some claims that witches cannot and should not do harm to others, the historical records say otherwise. There are multiple, notable accounts of witches using their craft to defend their homes and loved ones.

We could discuss warding, but that topic is oft-discussed I do not see a need to go more in-depth about it here. Let us discuss, instead, three specific historical examples of practitioners using the magical arts to protect themselves and others.

In this short space, it would be impossible to describe all the accomplishments of Welsh mathematician, astrologer, and occultist John Dee. A Renaissance man in every meaning of the word, Dee was the court magician for Queen Elizabeth I. It was Dee who helped plan expeditions to the New World. It was Dee himself who coined the term “British Empire”. So, when Phillip II of Spain attempted to invade England in 1588, it was said that John Dee took action. According to legend, Dee used his occult knowledge to cast a spell on the Spanish Armada. Of course, the Spanish Armada was scattered by great winds and did not invade England.

Less than 400 years later, it is said the witches of England helped to drive away the invading Nazi forces during the Second World War. According to Gerald Gardner, a great gathering of witches occurred in the New Forest on the eve of the Nazi invasion. These witches came from all over Britain to cast a spell on the Third Reich. The witches commanded the Nazi planes to not invade and many died in the process, or so the legend goes. Like the Spanish Armada, the Nazis did not invade Britain. Despite the raids, England never fell to the German forces. One does hope that the current generation of witches will follow their lead and use magic to strike back against tyranny.

In the 1960s, Italian historian Carlo Ginzburg published his work The Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. In this highly influential work, Ginzburg examines reports of the Benandanti, a group of magical practitioners who lived in Northeastern Italy in the 16th and 17th Centuries. The phrase Benandanti means “the good walkers.” By their own reports, the Benandanti rose (“walked”) from their own bodies while they were sleeping and fought off dark forces. These dark forces were witches, called the Maladanti (“the bad walkers”).

According to the Benandanti, who testified before the Inquisition, they fought the witches at night with fennel sticks. They did this on certain Thursdays to protect their crops. The nighttime visions of the Benandanti have been tied to the Sabbat-visions of witches throughout Europe during the same time period. The testimonies of the Benandanti led Ginzburg to conclude that they were members of a sort of “fertility cult”. Ginzburg’s work was considered controversial upon its first publication and continues to spark debate.

This Lammas, let us remember what it is to defend those we love. You does not need to be a solider to fight for the things you care about. You can be a scholar, a dreamer, a mystic - you can be an ordinary person and affect great change. With a bit of magic and a sense of determination, you can fight for what you believe in and win.

I’m a beautiful element of the universe and I love that about myself

I love me spell:

-a ready bake pie crust 

-a can of strawberry pie filling (strawberries represent love of all kinds)

-star cookie cutters (star shapes to visually represent my place among the Universe)

-Sprinkling sugar (to sweeten my inner thoughts about me)

-Intent (A whole lot of love and gratitude for being my awesome self)

Enchant each ingredient of the pie with it’s correspondence as listed above. When the pie is assembled and ready to go into the oven imbue the pie with the following chant:

“Every bite filled with love

connects me to the Universe”

Then bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes.

(via witchinthenight)

hi! im always trying to learn more about tarot, but i keep coming across the same entry level tips and lessons. do you have any advice for more advanced or intermediate tarot readers?

Advanced Tarot Techniques

You come across tips for beginners because tips are generally for beginners. External sources, such as books and websites, are mostly meant for readers who are in the early stages of their journey. They are training wheels.

The moment you consider yourself intermediate, your growth should mainly be internal. That is, as you read for yourself, you discover new ways of how the cards manifest. And as others approach you with questions you have never been asked before, you develop new ways of seeking answers. That is how you mature as a reader.

Here are methods and findings I uncovered for myself back when I was intermediate and further enhanced once I was advanced:

How to Predict Your Sex Life

How to Predict Timing

How to Foretell the Whole Year Ahead

How to Predict Sports Matches

Extreme Card Meanings

How to Use Oracle Cards with Tarot

How to Use the Cards for Vengeance

Tried and Tested Reversal Meanings

How to Read the Cards as Advice

How to Speak to the Dead

The Major and Minor Arcana Twins

How to Uncover Your Past Life

How to Really Answer Yes or No Questions

Literal Card Meanings

Polar Opposite Cards

What It Means to Keep Seeing the Same Suit

How to Make a Difficult Choice

How to Uncover Hidden Health Issues

Meanings for Sex

How to Determine Physical Appearance

How to See Someone’s True Intentions

How to Use the Cards for Mind Control

How to Discover Your Life Purpose

Knowing If Someone Will Ever Get Married

Ideal Spread for Fortunetelling

How to Predict How Long You Will Live

Why Self Readings May Fail

How to Read the Cards as Someone’s Feelings

How to Use Lenormand with Tarot

The Greco-Roman Gods in Tarot

How to Identify Your Soulmate

Folk Remedies for Illness

Hey y’all it’s flu season. My mom’s got a little cough/fever going on so I called my grandmother and she gave me a bunch of remedies. She’s a Colombian woman who knows her folk magic so I thought I would share them here.

Lemon Tea:

lemon

water

honey

Can be heated up in the microwave.

Broth:

Main ingredients (add a lot of these):

red onion

garlic

Optional add ons:

chicken

buganvilla flowers (good for a cough)

carrots or anything else that would make it more nutritious and delicious

All cooked together in a pot with water.

Banana Cream:

banana

butter

honey

Mashed together until creamy and smooth.

Gargles:

warm water

salt or baking soda

Gargle it in the back of your throat and then spit it out.

It’s really important to take fluids when you’re sick so it’s also a good idea to drink liquids like orange juice (which has vitamin c), tea, and water.

If you’ve got any further question about how to make these or my personal magical correspondences, my ask is always open.