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A Practical Guide to Herbology

Lesson One: Medicinal Teas

When I was first starting out with herbology, I was living in a small village in Croatia with a total population of less than 100 people. We depended on homemade teas, salves and medicines to heal us since the nearest hospital was two hours away. We treated ourselves with the power of herbs, gifted to us by the Earth.

These days, we can purchase all the tools we need to grow both common and exotic plants. Dried herbs are also another good option, especially for those that cannot grow their own. And with these tools, we can craft our own medicines. 

For the first lesson, I’m going to focus on something simple: the art of crafting medicinal tea. 

Creating Tea Blends

When starting out with creating medicinal teas, it’s important to understand how each ingredient interacts with our bodies. Be sure that you’re not allergic to any of your herbs and that they won’t interact poorly with any prescribed medications that you’re on. For example, those who are diabetic should not take angelica root; folks who are allergic to ragweed should avoid chamomile. 

Here’s a list of common herbs and their functions for the purposes of crafting medicinal teas:

Angelica Root: Soothes colds and flu, reduces phlegm and fever. (Do not use if you are diabetic)

Basil: Eases headaches, indigestion, muscle spasms, insomnia; reduces stress and tension

Blackberry Leaves or Roots: Reduces diarrhea

Catnip: Soothes teething pain, colic, diarrhea, indigestion, anxiety, insomnia. (May cause drowsiness. Avoid if on Lithium or sedatives)

Calendula (marigold): Reduces fevers, soothes indigestion, gastrointestinal cramps, flu; antiseptic. (May cause drowsiness. Avoid if on sedatives)

Cayenne Pepper: Soothes coughs, colds, arthritis (topical), nerve pain, fever, flu; expectorant. (Avoid taking with medications that contain Theophylline).

Chamomile: Reduces insomnia, anxiety, stress, fever, indigestion; aids with sleep and pain relief. (May decrease effectiveness of birth control pills and some cancer medications, may increase the effects of warfarin; avoid if you are taking medications for your liver)

Cinnamon Bark: Soothes sore throats and coughs; anti-inflammatory (Avoid taking with diabetes medications)

Dandelion Root: Detoxifying, aids digestion, relieves constipation, laxative. (Avoid if on antibiotics, lithium or water pills)

Dandelion Leaf: Mild diuretic, potassium-rich (Avoid if on medication for liver)

Elderberries: Wards off colds and flu

Ginger: Eases morning sickness, nausea, colic, indigestion, diarrhea, fever, sore throats. (Avoid taking with medications that slow blood clotting)

Ginkgo: Relieves anxiety, vertigo, tinnitus; improves circulation, helps concentration; helps PMS. (Avoid taking with ibuprofen or with medications that slow blood clotting; numerous medications have interactions with ginkgo so speak to your specialist before use)

Ginseng: Aphrodisiac, mild stimulant, boosts immune system. (Do not take with medications that slow blood clotting, and avoid taking with diabetes medications or with MAO inhibitors)

Goldenrod: Relieves gout and cramps

Lavender: Reduces anxiety, headaches, tension, stress, indigestion, IBS; antibacterial; antiseptic; disinfectant (May cause drowsiness; avoid if on sedatives)

Lemon balm: Relieves anxiety, cold sores, colic, insomnia, restlessness, indigestion; boosts memory (May cause drowsiness, avoid taking with sedatives)

Nettle: Reduces hay fever and arthritis; diuretic. (Avoid taking with diabetes medications, medications for high BP, sedatives, medications that slow blood clotting, and lithium)

Peppermint: Relieves nausea, anxiety, indigestion, IBS, colic, diarrhea, fever, coughs, colds; anesthetic (Avoid if you have acid-reflux disease; avoid taking with cyclosporine; avoid if on liver medications)

Pine Needles: Expectorant; antiseptic; relieves coughs, colds, fever and congestion

Rosemary: Improves focus, memory, concentration, BP, circulation; antiseptic; antidepressant; eases indigestion

Thyme: Antibacterial, antiseptic, eases coughs and colds, expectorant (Do not take with medications that slow blood clotting)

Recipes

For those starting out, here are a few recipes for common ailments. As you start making your own teas, you’ll learn which blends of herbs work best for your body. Keep track of which ingredients and combinations are successful - with each steep, you get closer and closer to crafting your perfect personalized medicine cabinet.

Anxiety Relief - ½ tsp chamomile - ½ tsp lemon balm Cold Relief - ½ tsp elderberry flower - ½ tsp thyme Mood Booster - ½ tsp lavender - ½ tsp catnip - ½ tsp rosemary Cramp Relief - ½ tsp basil - ½ tsp calendula (marigold) - ½ tsp goldenrod Indigestion Relief - ½ tsp ginger - ½ tsp lemon balm - ½ tsp peppermint Expectorant - ½ tsp pine needles - ½ tsp nettle leaf - ½ tsp angelica root Insomnia - ½ tsp chamomile - ½ tsp catnip - ½ tsp lavender Sore Throat Relief - ½ tsp cinnamon (or half a stick) - ½ tsp ginger - 1 tbsp honey Fever Break - ¼ tsp cayenne pepper - ½ tsp angelica root Flu Relief - ½ tsp calendula (marigold) - ½ tsp lemon balm

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Photographs are under the Creative Commons License. Content is from my grimoire and is embedded with information from a variety of sources over the years. 

Updated 7 March 2018 with relevant warnings and to be consistent with other posts in this series.

Warnings:  All plant material should be sourced appropriately and responsibly for your own safety and well-being. Be certain that you are purchasing food-grade ingredients from a reliable retailer or supplier. Along these lines, not all dried herbs are meant for consumption so please be on the lookout for “external use only” labels - you do not want those products for this.

Do your own research regarding medicinal plants and usage, especially if you are sensitive or have allergies of any kind. If you are on medication(s), consult a doctor before use.

Finally, medicinal teas are a health supplement and not a substitution for professional medical and psychiatric aid. If you are experiencing any prolonged health and/or mental health issues, SEE A DOCTOR.

Sigils: How-to’s and Where-to’s

Sigils are little symbols that can channel intent to do spells or help in rituals. I find sigils are very low energy, and good for witches in the broom closet- or however you categorize being a secret witch. Stick these bad boys on the bottom of your shoe, as a doodle in a notebook, on a random sheet of paper, and no one will ever know!

There are several methods for making sigils. I’ll make a post covering each. Today, we’re covering the 1-9 Method! (If there’s an actual name for that pls tell me)

The 1-9 Method!

The 1-9 Method is a method where you assign each letter of the alphabet a number between 1 and 9 to make a sigil.

The first step is to take the alphabet and put it into a chart, with 9 columns, each labeled 1-9, so it’s organized something like this:

Once you get that all finished, pick a word or a phrase; I’m going to use “protection”.

This is where things get a little dicey. Some people say you have to drop all repeat letters. Some say repeats and vowels. I personally view that as garbage; doesn’t mean it isn’t a valid way to make a sigil. I just think that we organized the whole damn alphabet into 9 columns, so we should use the whole damn alphabet! I drop my repeats, so “protection” looks a like this:

Protection = Protecin

After that, we match every letter with its number on the table.

Protecin = 79625395

Now draw a circle. Divide it into 9 pieces, and start with your first number; in my case 7. Find point 7, and move to point 9, then 6, so on and so forth. Here’s how my circle started out versus how it ended:

I tried to include arrows, but it looks a bit confusing……. *sigh*

Hope you all learned something in my post! Have a fabulously magical day! 💜✨✨

cancellation sigil

I am discomfort…

Writer friends, I discovered a fun website today. It’s called “I Write Like” and here’s the description: Check which famous writer you write like with this statistical analysis tool, which analyzes your word choice and writing style and compares them with those of the famous writers.  Let me know which autor you got! 

Look guys I'm not dead! Tumblr just screwed up with my account, an my life went nuts for a while , but I'm back!

Darth Sauron 2.0! When the Final Battle occurs, Mairon is blinded by Olorin’s lightsaber! Mairon, now Sauron, uses the Force to see the future, and to tell where people are.

Otherwise he just memorizes a room layout.

🍀📝 I am going to pass my SATs 📝🍀

Speak it into existance!!

Likes charge, reblogs cast~!

So if you must know, I’m part Czech. My father was raised in a town split 50/50 Italian and Czech immigrants and their descendants. He married my mum, who was a very impressionable beginner chef, and once she discovered this specific combination of spices from his mum, she put it in most of the food I and my family ate- and I would add that no one banned freaking GARLIC or ONION, or BASIL, which I ALSO used a lot of.

Here’s the combo:

Salt (always)

Black pepper (duh)

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Basil

Paprika- smoked or sweet, it don’t matter, depends on the dish.

There you have it- go get paprika banned at your houses!

PAPRIKA REVOLUTION!!!!!!!

Oracle Cards!

Who doesn’t love a good Oracle Card reading? Everyone loves tarot, but there’s a lot of stuff to remember! With Oracle Cards.... well there’s still stuff to remember, but it’s much easier if you......

Make them! ✨✨

You will need:

Thick paper or cardstock

Paint (optional: glitter paint!!)

Drawing tools

Scissors

Your fucking imagination!

Cut your cards out of the cardstock in any size you want- they just gotta be uniform- and in any number you like.

Now for the fun part: Draw the image, write a message, a bit of both! Use that big, beautiful imagination! Use it!! They can be part of a theme, random, whatever you want.

Paint it, color it, etc. I used glitter paint because why the fuck not? Once you’re happy, turn the card over, and paint the back. They can be uniform or unique (Unique ones you can have people draw blindly or choose one they’re drawn to).

Let the back dry, and bam! Oracle Cards! That you chose the meanings for!

Here’s a few of mine; they’re based on Tolkien’s Valar:

Create some beautiful cards and do some readings!