End of Summer Fun

This witch has had a beautiful Summer!  Starting in August, I began a year-long sabbatical from full-time work.  Now I have more time to explore myself & my dreams; to attune my life with my beliefs & values. 


Much of this exploration is just FUN!


Witch's Brews:
Follow the link to read about the beginning of my private botanica. 

Herbalism Training:
Learning about the medicinal qualities of herbs as passed down through the generations from a variety of cultures.  The more I know, the more I can incorporate these techniques into my herbal magick.

Florida School of Holistic Living: Roots of Herbalism

Drum Circles:
Music is good for the soul!  And great for building new friendships in the local Pagan community.

Garden Design:
Hubby & I have built 2 Square-Foot Gardens this Summer.  Fall planting has begun for the Florida season (but the critters have arrived as well).  The herb & butterfly gardens are thriving.  Faeryland (the back yard) is full of life!

Sewing:
Our sewing circle created a bunch of easy dresses to send to Africa.  That was really rewarding!

Little Dresses for Africa

Energy Work:
I'm working through Christopher Penczak's book The Inner Temple of Witchcraft.  It's wonderful!

What a season!  I'm just chomping to post about my adventures & begin Fall.  Tomorrow starts preparation for Samhain!!

Healing Salve

The Comfrey& Calendula oils are finally ready!

I've been patiently waiting, shaking, singing to & nurturing these oils in anticipation of making some Healing Salve. 

Today is that day!

After 4 weeks of solar infusion, the oils are heated for 1 hour over a low heat in a double-boiler (ok, I don't have one, so it's a bowl on a pot with a lid).

Then, the solid material is strained out & placed back into the clean bowl. This was REALLY messy!  Where is my apprentice?  Oh, I'm apprenticing...that means I do my own work.   


So, after cleaning the counter & rubbing the spilled oil into my skin, it was time to add 1 ounce of soy wax (not bees wax, vegan witch here), 20 drops of lavender essential oil & a bit of Vitamin E oil for stability.


Now the test - taking 1 spoonful of the brew & placing it into the refrigerator for 20 minutes to check the solidity.
I found it to be a bit soft.  1/8 more ounce of soy wax did the trick.


Finally, pouring the salve into clean jars just out of the hot dishwasher (again with the mess???!!!???).


The finished product:
I think, next time, I will use smaller tins instead of these 1/2 pint jars.  But that's what I had on hand today & I just HAD to try this. 

Comfrey & Calendula Salve has amazing healing properties!  I had a burn a week ago that got quite infected. Within 24 hours it was almost healed.


I love herbs!! 

From Hidden Witch

Witch's Ramblings

Lots of magickal concoctions are brewing around here! 





~Magickal Graphics~

This week I started Comfrey Oil & Base vinegar for Queen of Hungary Water. The Comfrey Oil is for a healing salve (recipe from LearningHerbs.com) & the Queen of Hungary Water is from Rosemary Gladstar's Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health.

Here's a video of Susun Weed chatting about comfrey & the skin:






Some other workings in the Hidden Witch's Botanica are perfumes.  My Rose Tincture is finally finished after 6 weeks; result of waiting 6 weeks is just divine! The rosebuds retained some of the tincture, so they are drying on my Home Spirit Shrine, releasing their wonderful aroma to the living room.  I'll be using the Rose Tincture for my 1st real perfume & hope to have it ready by Full Moon.

Today we went to the local "flea market" & found some beautiful antique bottles.  I can't wait to bottle up some magick!


Wild & Bright Blessings,

~*Rhi*~

A Day in the Hidden Witch's Botanica

Today was a day of making witchy concoctions.  Most of my witch work & play is done while I'm home alone, even though my dear husband is tolerant of my activities.  To start, I make sure I'm well energized.  A walk in my favorite local park, communing with the Spirits of Earth followed some fun aura play with my dear doggies.  After cleansing the workspace (ok, not the house...that's left to do), I set to work.

I've made a few tinctures:

• Rose - to add to a magickal perfuming oil
• Vallerian - mostly for when I can't sleep
• Orris Root -to stabilize said magical perfuming oils
• Catnip - as part of the recipe for natural insect repellant
• Lemongrass - another part of the natural insect repellant

Then, I started a jar of Calendula oil to use as coloring in my soy candles.  I really need to get some more natural ingredients to use as colorings.  That's an upcoming project.

Finally, I mixed & blessed the herbs obtained yesterday for my new teas/smoke blends:

• Divining Mix for smoking or as a tea
• Hedgecrossing Mix for smoking or as a tea
• Date Night Tea
• Sleepy Tea

I'm still missing a couple of ingredients for Divining & Hedgecrossing, though.  So, I'll need to go hunting soon, because I'm excited to try them!  Oh, & FYI for those of you who might be worried, everything in the mixes is legal & safe in the correct dosages.


As I'm still studying, everything in my little botanica is for my use only right now.  Maybe someday there will be a Hidden Witch's Botanica.  Part of my process here is to determine what I really enjoy & incorporate that into my life's work.

Either way, today was nice!  Tomorrow I'll focus on belly dance costuming, or maybe make a patchwork ritual robe...who knows?