In Regard To The Relationship..

Beltane

may 1st

(bealtaine, cétamain, boaldyn, beltany, calan mai, may day, walpurgis nacht, floralia)

from gaelic “bael” (bright fire)

festival of sunlight, fertility, fire

honors Irish god of fire, Bel

the first day of summer in celtic tradition

the day cows are put out into the pastures

in norse myth, this is the time Othan hung himself from Yggdrasil and learned the runes

foods

sweets/honey

leafy greens

shellfish (aphrodisiac)

oats

strawberries

honey mead, ale, herbal wines

ice tea, lemonade

activities

dancing around the maypole

morris dancing

balefires (use oak, apple, hawthorn, birch, elder, ash, blackthorn, grape vine, mountain ash (rowan), holly, willow, cedar, yew, and hemlock)

decorating with hawthorn branches

divination

fertility rituals

visit a well

make and wear leaf masks

wash your face with dew for beauty

purify with ashes

corrospondences

herbs: all-heal, blessed thistle, broom, curry, daffodil, dogwood, coriander, dragon's blood reed, fern, fireweed, nettle, flaxseed, hawthorn, marjoram, paprika, radish, rue, snapdragon, mushroom, almond, meadowsweet, rose, woodruff, tansy, elder leaves

incence: jasmine, musk, ylang ylang, rose, vanilla

colors: pink, crimson, violet, yellow, rainbow

stones: carnelian, emerald, rose quartz, bloodstone, citrine

animals: rabbit, goat, bee, cat, satyr

Calan Mai (Wales)

known as an ysbrydnos (spirit night)

starts on may eve

singing may carols

couples go into the woods to spend time alone and picnic

Walpurgis Nacht (Germans)

days to celebrate St. Walpurga

begins april 30 and ends on may day

St. Walpurga healed, and protected

they say her tomb produces healing oil

bonfires were lit to drive off spirits

Floralia (Italy)

roman holiday of flowers

honors goddess Flora

april 28 to may 3

included nude dances, gladiator shows, release of hares and goats, scattering seeds

Herb Substitutions 🌿

****These are used as Suggestions****

Rosemary can be used in place of other herbs

Rose can be used in place of any other flower

Frankincense or Copal can replace gum resin

Sage in place of any mints

Tobacco in place of any poisonous herbs

Acacia substitute Gum Arabic

Aconitie substitute Tobacco

Arabic substitute gum ,gum mastic or frankincense

Allspice substitute cassia, cinnamon, cloves ,mace or nutmeg

Balm of gilded substitute rose buds or gum mastic

Belladonna substitute Tobacco

Benzoin substitute Gum Arabic or gum mastic

Camphor oil substitute Eucalyptus oil or lavender oil

Carnation substitute rose petals anointed with a few drops of cinnamon oil

Cassia substitute cinnamon

Castor beans substitute for a few drops of castor oil

Cedar substitute sandlewood

Cinquefoil substitute clover or trefoil

Citron substitute equal parts Orange & lemon peels

Clove substitute mace or nutmeg

Clover substitute cinquefoil

Copal substitute frankincense or cedar

Cowbane substitute tobacco

Cypress substitute juniper or pine needles

Deer tongue substitute tonka bean, woodruff or vanilla

Dittany substitute gum mastic

Dragons blood substitute equal parts frankincense and red sandlewood

Eucalyptus oil substitute camphor oil or lavender oil

Euphorbium substitute Tobacco

Frankincense substitute copal or pine resin

Grains of paradise substitute black pepper

Gum bumelia substitute copal, pine resin or dragons blood

Hellebore substitute tobacco or nettle

Hemlock substitute Tobacco

Hemp substitute nutmeg or damiana

Henbone substitute Tobacco

Hyssop substitute lavender

Ivy substitute cinquefoil

Jasmin substitute rose

Juniper substitute pine

Lavender substitute rose

Lemon Grass substitute lemon peel

Lemon verbena substitute Lemon grass or lemon peel

Mace substitute nutmeg

Mandrake substitute Tobacco

Mastic substitute gum, gum Arabic or Frankincense

Mint substitute sage

Mistletoe substitute mint or sage

Mugwort substitute wormwood

Neroli oil substitute orange oil

Nightshade substitute Tobacco

Nutmeg substitute mace or cinnamon

Oakmoss substitute patchouli

Orange substitute tangerine peel

Orange flower substitute orange peel

Patchouli substitute oakmoss

Peppermint substitute spearmint

Pepperwort substitute grain of paradise or black pepper

Pine substitute juniper

Pine resin substitute frankincense or copal

Red Sandlewood substitute sandlewood with a pinch of dragons blood

Rose substitute yarrow

Rose geranium substitute rose

Rue substitute rosemary with a pinch of black pepper

Saffron substitute orange peel

Sandalwood substitute cedar

Sarsaparilla substitute sassafras

Spearmint substitute peppermint

Star Anise substitute bay

Sulfur substitute tobacco, club moss or asafetida

Thyme substitute rosemary

Tobacco substitute bay

Tonka bean substitute deer tongue

Trefoil substitute cinquefoil

Valerian substitute asafetide

Vanilla substitute woodruff or deer tongue

Vetivert substitute calamus

Wolfsbane substitute tobacco

Wood aloe substitute sandalwood sprinkled with ambergris oil

Woodruff substitute deer tongue or vanilla

Wormwood substitute nutmeg

Yarrow substitute rose

Yew substitute Tobacco

“god you’re so climbable” “what ever happened between you and jean?”

POOLVERINE DELETED SCENE POOLVERINE DELETED SCENE

The Use of Hornets and Wasps in Witchcraft

Image Credit: Alclear Pest Control

I’m sorry for my absence my lovelies! It’s been a difficult few weeks for me recently, because I’ve been trying to cope with exams, then the end of classes, and then constant exposure to an abusive family member, all whilst struggling with significant depression. However, I’m pushing on through, and one of the things that’s getting me through is thinking about new things to post on!

A note about the ethics of animal part usage

Insects parts are a very traditional element of witchcraft, and they are much more ethical than any other animal parts because (like bivalve and gastropod molluscs), arthropods do not have a brain capable of supporting consciousness. Killing hornets for your craft, then, is an ethically safe thing to do. However, killing animals that are capable of consciousness exclusively for the reasons of Craft is disputed by many witches from different traditions and is usually considered to be unacceptable. Please don’t take this post to be in support of killing conscious animals for usage in Craft activities – I am personally strongly against pointless slaughter, including sport-hunting and sport-fishing.

Witchy Uses for Hornets and Wasps

Curses that involve pain and fear – Any curse that has pain or fear as a major component of its magick (either because it’s what you want to cause, or it’s what you want to get justice for) would be greatly enhanced by the addition of dried and crushed wasps or hornets.

Curses that involve falling afoul of spies, infiltrators, or deceivers – Wasps and hornets are most infamous in apiculture (beekeeping) for their tendency to enter into a beehive and kill every single bee inside, completely destroying a colony in a matter of hours or days. They do this by camouflaging their scent, and then sneaking into the hive round a back entrance. Once inside, they will kill everything in their path to achieve their goals. Any spell that involves either retribution for those that have done this, or hope to invite these kinds of people into someone’s life, would do well to have crushed or whole hornet or wasp nest in them.

Curses that involve projects or structures going wrong – Wasps and hornets are also well known for causing colony collapses. Using dried and crushed hornets and wasps in your spellwork can be very effective in causing organisations, projects, or communities to break apart, or again to get retribution against those who performed these actions. Most effective against organisations with power that’s highly consolidated in one person, like in a beehive.

Any spell focused around matriarchal or feminine-specific social structures – Using wasp or hornet nest in your spell can (if you properly cleanse it with salt and smoke to remove negative inclinations) help boost spells that are focused around matriarchal social orders. This is also true with ant nest and honeycomb pieces, though honeycomb is the best of the options.

Any spell focused on people who leech things off of others – Hornets and wasps don’t work for their food like bees or ants do, but prefer to target those who work hard and steal or leech off of them. Any spell that’s aimed at human leeches, mooches and other human parasites can be increase with the addition of crushed wasps and hornets. Parasitic creatures like actual leeches, mosquitoes and ticks are better, but less readily obtainable in some areas.

Spells that involve wasps! – You’d be surprised how non-obvious this is to some people, but yes, if you want your spell to literally involve wasps or hornets, it would be a good idea to include one or two in your spell!

I hope this is of use to all you lovely witches out there!

– Juniper Wildwalk

Today's herb of the day is Star Anise!

Gender: Masculine

Planet: Jupiter

Element: Air

Magickal uses:

Drink as an infusion with tea or burn as an incense before divination to boost psychic abilities and awareness. Place on your altar to increase the power generated from it, add to a bath with bay leaves for purification, place in a dream pillow to prevent nightmares, carry with you to bring luck in love, health and money matters. Carry in a satchet to ward off the evil eye, hang an anise seed head from your bedpost to restore lost youth, use as an offering to entice spirits to aid in magical operations and anise leaves or anise seeds used in a potpourri will protect a room from evil spirits and intentions. Good for money, luck, protection, psychic power, dream, love, purification, power and purification workings.

Other uses:

Star anise has been used in Asian and Eurasian cooking for many, many years. This age-old spice is not only known as a culinary expert, but is also famous for its medicinal properties like being used to improve heart health, steady blood sugar, ward off bacteria and fungi, aid in sleeping and help fight the flu.

In foods and beverages, star anise is considered a culinary spice; both the seed and oil are used as flavoring.

In manufacturing, the oil is used as a fragrance in soaps, cosmetics, perfumes, and toothpaste, and to mask undesirable odors in drug products.

Deities:

Quan Yin

Comb of cherry wood with ancient symbol Triqert. This symbol represents the movement of the Sun in the sky.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/719548777/wooden-comb-triquerta

https://www.instagram.com/p/B1s2-7bCKYi/?igshid=1n8egn1fml8oh

Hi Bree, I just listened to your Hex Positive episode on Warding the Home and there's a part in there where you stated that you created a ward that basically gave you a "physic tap" of sorts when you weren't home or without your permission.

Do you have any tips on creating a ward like that or the process of creating a ward similar to that? Thanks in advance! I love the podcast!

Sure thing!

It's all part of customizing your wards and specifying what you want them to do, like, "This ward will activate when I lock my front door." When I set up that bedroom ward, I told it to let me know if anyone came into my room while I wasn't home. The concept of a "psychic tap" is something I got from Anne Bishop's Black Jewels books.

It didn't always work and it certainly wasn't infallible, but there were a few occasions where I felt a sort of ping while I was out and then came home to find things out of place or trigger objects moved.

I have something similar set up in my home now, but I've had to tweak it a lot to account for when family members come to feed the cats while we're away or maintenance has to come in while I'm at work. It's mostly there for peace of mind.

do you know any simple and discreet ways to protect a doorway from harmful things coming through it?

Threshold Warding Powder:

At twilight (ideally on a Saturday,) grind together Salt, Yarrow, Eggshells, Fennel, and Red Brick Dust within a Cast Iron vessel.

When the mixture has been satisfyingly pulverized, step outside and sprinkle the powder along the threshold of the doorway, from right to left. Having done this, walk backwards through the doorway, making sure not to touch your feet to the threshold. Once inside, close the door and turn the lock three times (i.e. lock it, unlock it, lock it again, unlock it again, lock it once more, and unlock it once more.) Thereafter, repeat the ritual as needed (when the powder is in need of replacing.)

There are innumerable ways to ward a threshold, from hanging certain talismans above the door, to sowing certain plants near the entryway, but this particular method is quite inconspicuous and fairly straightforward. I will also try and post a more in-depth warding rite soon, which calls on Janus to secure the threshold, should you, or anyone else, want a slightly more involved method with similar elements to this one.

ward checkup checklist

if you have an astral or physical space that is warded, you’ll probably have many layers of wards or at least a few strong wards, but regardless of the number of wards you have it’s always prudent to do regular checkups. 

do note that each of your wards will have a different composition and function so these checkups probably won’t apply to every ward, so based on the type of ward you will have to learn to adjust your checkup accordingly. 

leaks and weak spots. this is quite universal for a lot of wards out there, especially for large wards or wards that involve more complicated shapes or that cover spaces that are filled with corners and objects. certain parts of the ward may be less concentrated than others or may receive less attention when being made, which makes them tend to become more vulnerable faster. make sure that the energy distribution is consistent when making or repairing wards.

stiffness or rigidity. sometimes wards can harden or become rigid in certain areas, which makes them more vulnerable to impact from attacks as they are more likely to break or shatter. there is a difference between rigid wards and sturdy wards, wards don’t necessarily have to be completely unmovable and inflexible to be sturdy and durable. keep energy flowing through wards until it breaks down the rigidity and keeps the wards more malleable.

decrease in concentration. sometimes wards can lose their energy when not in use, especially wards that are made to only activate when provoked. these can lose essentially the body and what powers the ward and make the ward less effective when in use. check up on these wards frequently and make sure that they are still functioning optimally.

clumps and clogs. the energy in wards can gather and clump up or cause a clog sometimes, especially in wards that involve moving energy. this can pose a problem as clumping often leads to well, blockages and decreased flow which can just slow the flow of the ward and stop it from doing what it was meant to do, you know? find clumps or clogs and work energy through it until it spreads out and the energy is flowing like it’s supposed to.

energy reactivity and selectivity. for wards that are meant to filter stuff (e.g. anti-glamour ward) or wards that only react when a certain set of conditions are met (e.g. offence ward that sucks intruders’ energy), they can get less reactive or less selective over time without use. check these wards frequently and test them to ensure that they still work optimally.

energy contamination. for wards that are used a lot and involves a lot of passing through, or wards that are for cleansing or absorption, these can get contaminated very easily. cleanse these regularly or reset them to ensure maximum function.

I’ll repost this every once in a while so people can get this gem once more

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