Homemade Herbal Oils

In my bid to use more of what I have on hand to create my magical tools and ingredients, I've started creating my own magical herbal oils.  Not, of course, to be confused with essential oils (which are generally created by distillation), these oils are something I use for anointing papers, candles or myself when working toward a specific magical goal.  Assuming that you are using all edible ingredients, you can even ingest them to take the magic right into yourself (but only consume freshly made herbal oils - oils that sit can become unsafe).

Here's how I create these oils:

I found this cute little tool at Wegman's a while back.  It was labeled as a "butter warmer".    I already had something to melt butter in (it's called a microwave), but I saw the potential for something with this little doojamahicky.  It's basically a base with space for a tea light

and a container to hold ingredients.  I like that it has a lip for pouring!

Magical oils can be made by just adding herbs to oils in a jar and letting them sit, but I like to speed up the process by slightly warming them together.  So into the pot goes an oil and herbs, based on what I want to manifest, I light the candle and let it sit (keeping an eye on it!) for several hours or most of the day if I have the time.

Be sure while you are adding the ingredients, lighting the flame and giving the oil a good swirl now and then while it brews that you are concentrating on your intentions for the finished product.  As in all magical endeavors, the power of the work is directly correlated to the intent and power that you add to it.

When I feel it's ready, I give it a good strain through my reusable coffee filter, that I keep just for this purpose.

I end up with an oil that is ready to use or can be stored for quite a while, depending on what oil I've used!

Which oil to use?  Cooking oils, just like herbs, have correspondences.  For a prosperity oil, I generally use olive oil, something I always have on hand.  It can also be used for oils intended for health or in love attracting oils to find a wealthy partner.   Sealed tightly and stored in a cool, dark place, brews made with olive oil will last for about 6 months.

Other oils can be used when creating love spells, protection, fertility, etc.  It's all about what you have on hand and what you want to manifest!

Blog Giveaway: $25 Credit from Nextdayflyers.com!

As someone who is working on putting together a brand spanking new Etsy shop together, I've come to realize what it means to have some of those little extras that go along with a business: business cards, cute little insert "freebies"  to send off with purchased items.  I've got my "freelance writer" cards on hand, but now I need something for my Etsy shop.

And bang!  In comes nextdayflyers.com.  Not only do they have some great business cards at super affordable prices, they also have a wide variety of extras like customizable postcards, flyers,  DVD inserts and doorhangers!

And they were awesome enough to offer up a $25 printing credit to one lucky CoaPSM winner!  What can you get for a $25 credit?

How a new batch of professional business cards?  Let's face it, those ones you print yourself are good in a pinch, but nothing says "professional" like a shiny new business card!

Or postcards featuring your products (or your kids... or maybe that pesky cat that keeps getting into everything...).

Or bookmarks featuring the name and URL of your shop or blog!  I can say that I am always looking for a bookmark.  Always.

Or it could be used toward purchasing a bunch of other way cool stuff from their site!  Interested?  Here's how to enter:

5 Seed Giveaway Winners!

You might have noticed, if you look up that a way ^ that the blog is now being redirected to a "dotcom" address instead of a "blogspot".  Yeah.  What you might not have noticed is that the blog lost a ton of comments in the transition (not sure how that works, lol!), including the contest comments.

Have no fear!  By the craziness, I am actually organized enough on this one front (yes, it's truly amazing) that I was able to recreate the entire list of comments via email notices of the comments.

Confused?  Yeah, me too.  But the part that's important:

The winners are of the Sankalpa Scents by 5 Seed are:  

• "Anne" goes to: Katelyn
• "Janie" goes to Christy

Congrats to you both!  Please contact me with your mailing info for shipping!

And a big thanks to the wonderful 5 Seed shop for sharing their wonderful goodies with us!!

A visit with the Witchmobile

With summer coming, I plan on sharing some of my travel and vacation magic in the upcoming week or two.  It's served me pretty well on vacations in the past - a little weather magic to keep it from raining on your beach days, a little car magic to keep your drive safe - every little bit helps, right?

To start with, though, I thought I'd introduce my lovely metal steed, who I refer to as The Witchmobile!  You've probably heard me mention her a time or two!

Let me start by saying, before I had kids, I never in a million years thought I'd ever drive a mini-van.  When it came time to separate the kids before I sold them to the gypsies get something a little roomier, I was a bit mortified to consider the fact that the van was really the right family car for us.

But after a while, I grew to love that thing like nobody's business.  It's roomy, the seats come out so you can stuff it full of boxes,  kids can nap in it on long drives and there are more cup holders than you can shake a stick at!  Of course I had to put my own little touches on it....

These bumper stickers are the reason my oldest hates to drive my van, lol!  I think the "Jersey Girls Have the Best Tomatoes" is the one that really put it over....  I've got quite the collection of location stickers going (though I need to get some for places in Texas that we visited before I started collecting them).   And no, that's not really my license plate, though how cool would that be?  Just gotta keep the crazies from finding me!!

You might have noticed a few skulls here and there.  (Mrs. Coffee supplied this awesome one!)  I swear if I will the lottery, I'm going to have the Witchmobile painted to look like one.  Ha!  The boy will NEVER drive the car then!

Hanging off the rearview is a little bag of stones and herbs for travel protection.  This is so not the greatest photo, but there is also a little string of stones wrapped around it as well.  I recharge/replace this on a regular basis.

And then there is Pete:

Pete is my car guardian!  A ferocious dragon in disguise as a T-Rex (I'd explain that, but it would make me sound crazy), Pete watches out the windshield to help keep the road clear of danger while we drive.  Pete's lived in my van for years and we have quite a nice little relationship.  (If you are interested, you can read about car guardians here.)

There are times in my life when my car is practically like a second home.  Running this kid to this place and that kid to that place, errands and all that jazz.  It's nice to have it be an extension of your magical household.

More on travel and car magic will be coming up!

Monday Mutterings

It's Monday again!  It's raining again in the state where it rains 8 months out of the year/what is this Forks? great state of New Jersey.

Today I'm meeting another Pagan lady for the first time - this makes the 8th one since I put up my message on Witchvox!  Though not all of them "stuck", I've made some great friends.  So glad I made the effort to reach out in my community!

On the home front, Miss M's play is this weekend!  I can't wait.  She's really worked hard to learn her lines and find the right way to play a salty sea captain!

We've been having a stray cat spend a lot of time around our porch (it might have something to do with the fact that I keep feeding her....).  I'm pretty sure that she's pregnant.  *sigh*  I'm trying to think of a way I can set up some sort of shelter for her.  I'd take her in, but I'm fairly sure that Tanner would eat her - and I'm not totally convinced she's a stray and not an outside cat, as she's so very friendly.

Slooooowly creeping closer to being able to put more plants into the garden. Our heat-lamp set up is becoming a little crowded as plants get bigger and need to be transplanted into bigger containers!  More on that tomorrow.

I'm working on several things to go into my upcoming etsy shop.  I'm not sure what all will end up there, but definitely a lot of magical ingredients of different sorts.  I have a lot of ideas and plans - just need the time and supplies to get them all done, lol!

For now, though, I'm off to get ready for my coffee date!  Hope you are having a great start to your week!

  

Follow the Horde! No, like the ENTIRE horde!

Thought I'd try something a little different today!  Instead of following one member of the Horde, I thought we'd try following them all, lol! (Find out more about the Horde by clicking here.)

Here's how it works:  at the end of this post is a MckLinky.  Add a photo and a link to any site you'd like, as long as it's YOUR personal site and it's family friendly.    Link to your blog, your facebook or your etsy shop!

The only rules:
One listing per person
No affiliate programs.  A site where you sell your personally made goods is okay - your amazon shop is not.
NO porn!

Anything deemed offensive, spam or to be breaking the rules will be removed.



PONDEROSA PAGAN: There's no "comment" button on your blog!  I wanted to say I stopped in to visit,  so, Hi!

Magical Black Salt: What it is, how to make it, how to use it

I've been doing a lot of reading about different magical paths lately, and learning about different potions and brews and what they are used for - and thinking about how they can be used as applied to my own path as a domestic witch.  One thing I'm very big on right now is trying to start using only items that I can grow or create myself with the everyday things I already own.

In reading about the Hoodoo tradition, I am very impressed with how many things I can whip up using items from my kitchen.  Black salt is one of those things that has multiple uses and can be created quite easily.  In fact, it can be created in several different ways.  As with much of magic, it's more the intention you put behind it than the ingredients or tools that you use.

First up, let's learn a bit about black salt, shall we?

Black salt is sometimes called Sal Negro, Witches' Salt, Drive Away Salt, Voodoo Salt or Santeria Salt.  It can be used for driving away evil or negative energies, it can be added to war water (more on that another day).  You can sprinkle it in the doorways and corners of a room or business to drive away negativity or give you protection against bad neighbors or co-workers. Sprinkle it around your property or garden for protection.   It can be used to cast circles of strong protection.  Black salt has also been traditionally used in removing hexes and jinxes.

So how do you make black salt?  There are several different ways, which include mixing 2 parts salt to 1 part of another substance; cast iron scrapings, ash from a fire place, charcoal, black pepper or black dye are the most often used.

Garden Update Week 5

I thought I'd share a little about what's going on outside in the garden this week - which isn't too much yet, lol!

But the strawberry patch is starting to flower

(Yes, that is a cow skull that came to NJ all the way from Texas)

Blog Giveaway: New Scents from 5 Seed (Two winners!)

If you haven't heard of 5 Seed before, you are going to love this shop!  Not only because it offers a variety of delicious sounding products, but because of the care and passion that is behind every item.   The shop has a strong commitment to the environment and uses primarily recyclable glass and metal containers with the greenest packaging possible.  Ingredients (they try to keep it to 5 or less!) are natural and high quality and used to make small batches to ensure quality.

5 Seed has been generous enough to offer up 2 of their Sankalpa Scents!

Each Sankalpa blend is meant to help you achieve a desired state of mind. (Scroll down to read about this one.) All you have to do is set an intention (which is what sankalpa means), rub a very little bit of your Sankalpa Scent onto your palms, hold over your face, and inhale for a few moments. 

You can also simply apply to pulse points in the morning or throughout the day and use it as a standard perfume. The scents are very light and subtle. Some don’t even smell until they are “activated” by the heat from your skin. You will never find these overpowering, nor will your coworkers wrinkle their noses when you walk by. 

Each Sankalpa Scent is named after an earth-lovin’ lady!

One winner will receive "Anne": Named after writer Anne Lamott, who writes with bald honesty about life’s struggles, has a deep faith in God, and describes the Northern coast of California so beautifully that you can tell she loves her neck of the woods. She believes “joy is the best makeup”.  Anne blend is crisp, earthy, and pure sunshine. Both lemon and grapefruit oils are used to uplift the spirits in aromatherapy. Grapefruit also improves concentration and self-confidence. Ginger, a warming spice, fires up your inner heat, and gets you motivated!

One winner will receive Janie: Named after the main character, Janie Crawford, in Zora Neale Hurston’s classic novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Janie was a lover of nature, barefoot in the Florida grass. She understood the ecstasy of nature, and loved every part of it. “Oh to be a pear tree - any tree in bloom! With kissing bees singing of the beginning of the world!”

Janie contains the organic essential oils of lavender, sweet orange, and ylang ylang. It is earthy, floral, sweet, and sensual. The Janie blend is meant to help you open your senses to the world around. It will aid you in feeling connected with other living beings, bring out your inner vibrancy, and remind you of the sensuality of your inner Earth Goddess. 

To enter to win:

Monday Mutterings and Giveaway Winner!

Another Monday's here!

Miss M. is another week closer to her play.  We've got her all decked out in rain gear and hook.  We just have to find her a pair of dark rain boots to complete the outfit.  I can't wait!  She's also decided to do the summer theater program that they do each year in our area.  It's a bigger program than she's doing now, and they put on a great show every summer. It will be a great way to keep her busy over the summer!

This Thursday I have Middle Guy's IEP meeting.  It will be the first big meeting with his new case manager (the third school psychologist and case manager in 2 years!).  Though most school things have been going about as well as they can this year, I have some issues for next year that I need to take care of, including making sure he will not have one particular teacher that, after having him for 2 years off and on, does not seem to understand that the IEP applies to her, nor does she seem to care about how my son actually learns.  Thank goodness teachers like this are the exception and not the rule!

In blog news I'm still working on updating some of the blog pages and getting things straightened out.  Does that really ever end, though, lol?  I would like to point those of you who like to network with other Pagan blogs to a new Pagan blog network called, simply, Pagan Blogs.

Also, if you love creepy, wonderful goodies, check out the multi-sponsor giveaway going on at the Blood Bath blog!

Last, but not least, the winner of the awesome Stuff Every Woman Should Know from Quirk Books is: D. Suplicki!  Congrats!  Please contact me with your shipping info!

I hope you are all having a great start to your week!

If you love giveaways....

There's a huge one going on over at the Blood Bath blog, featuring a ton of etsy sellers!!  There are literally dozens of ways to enter and some super awesome prizes.  Check it out!

Day of Silence

Today I will not be blogging, twittering, facebooking, etc. except to give this information:

Today is a Day of Silence.

Almost 30% of students* who have been taunted, teased or bullied because of being perceived as gay or lesbian have attempted suicide.


RIP Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, Brad Mattehew Fuglei, Eric Mohat, Lawrence King,Tyler Lee Long, Jaheem Herrera, Joshua Melo, Marcus Wayman, Bill Clayton, Robbie Kirkland, Ja cob Orosco, Bruce Michaels, Joe Abell, Bobby Griffith, Justin Goodwin, Josh Kehoe and Bobby Daniel Caldwell, Gerry Edwards and Chris Bevan, Anji Dimitriou and Jane Currie, Pfc Barry Winchell, Matthew Shepard and so many more.

Find out more about how you can make a difference at The Trevor Project.

*Though this number, taken from a 1989 US governement study has been refuted by those such as the "Traditional Values Coalition, the number was supported by a 2001 study that found LGBT adolescents (or those bullied for being perceived as gay) are almost 3 times more likely to commit suicide than their hetero peers.

Read last year's post.

Mrs.B. Cooks... Quesadilla Casserole (aka Tex-Mex Lasagna)

As the last cooler days (at least in NJ) are upon us, I am starting to say goodbye to some of my oven-based dinners for the year.  When summer gets here, there's no way I'm turning the oven on!  This is a simple, clear-out-the-pantry comfort food.  Enjoy!

Here's what you'll need: canned tomato of some sort (more on that later!), about a 1/2 cup of onion, a can of green chilies, a couple of cloves of garlic, some herbs and spices (again, we'll get to the details ;O),

a can of black beans, drained and rinsed (or pintos, or kidney, etc.), a can of corn, drained (or small package of frozen, thawed)

and a pound of ground beef (if you leave the beef out, increase the veggie portion so it's not too loose) (or you could use veggie crumbles or ground chicken or turkey - it's all good).

You'll also need tortillas (4 big sized or 6 of the smaller ones), shredded cheese (Cheddar, Monterey Jack, or one of those Mexican blends you can get all work great).


First things first, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Brown the ground beef and oinions over medium-high heat until the meat is cooked all the way through.  If the pan is holding a lot of grease, drain it off.  Add the garlic at the last minute or so, then add the corn, chilies and beans.  Again, this is the type of recipe you can really play around with.  Use different types of beans, leave out the chilies if you don't like 'em.  Cook for about a minute, just to start getting everything warmed through.

Next, add your tomatoes.  Here's another place you can play with, depending on what's in your fridge.  You basically want to use about 16 ounces or so of tomatoes.  Tomato sauce is the perfect selection.  I've used crushed tomatoes (with an added tablespoon of tomato paste), diced tomatoes (again, throw in a little paste to thicken up and flavor  the liquid) and I though I haven't tried it, I'm willing to bet a couple of cans of tomato soup  or a jar of mildly flavored spaghetti sauce would work in a pinch.

Then comes the spices. A lot of this will depend on what you like, but here's the basics: 1 tablespoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1/2 teaspoon oregano (I'd leave this out if you use the pasta sauce as your tomato), and a pinch of crushed red pepper or cayenne.    Give it a good stir, turn the heat down to low, and let it simmer for 3-5 minutes for the flavors all to come together.  You want it to be thick-ish, like a thick chili, not too runny. 

Then it's assembly time!  Ladle out about a third of the meat mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan. 

Add the  2 tortillas on top (3 if you're using the smaller ones), to cover as much as you can.

Throw on another layer of meat, then a layer of cheese (how much depends on how much you like cheese.  We like cheese a lot!)

Then add on another layer of tortillas, meat and end with another layer of cheese.  Pop it in the oven for about 10-15 minutes - long enough for the cheese to get good and melty, and the tortillas to absorb all the tomatoey goodness.

When you take it out of the oven, it's very important to let the casserole sit for about 5 minutes!  This lets everything sort of solidify.  Otherwise, everything will be runny when you cut into it.

Cut up into squares, and serve!  You can give it a little dallop of sour cream, sprinkle on some cilantro or some chopped green onions to give it a little bite.  Serve with a nice green salad.  The whole thing only takes about 1/2 an hour, start to finish!

Where the Hell is Tanner: Worm Hole Edition

Garden Update Week 4

Lots of exciting things are happening in the garden this week!  Many of the plants have gone from pete pellets to bigger pots, since it will be a while until they can go in the garden (the last frost day for our area isn't until May 13!).  Some of the plants are still just getting started.  And we picked up a couple more packs of seeds yesterday, lol, for a few (mostly lettuces that will go right into the garden later). Here's a quick look at a few:

A quick look under the heat lamp.

The mugwort is coming right along!  I'm so excited to be growing it this year!

The calendula plants have been moved to bigger pots.

A chamomile plant, growing like mad!

We've also added a few new features to the yard.  Our "new" birdbath, lol!  A chipped terra cotta pot, and the "lid" that we'd bought to try baking bread on (you can use unglazed terra cotta the same way you'd use a baking stone for bread or pizza).  I don't think the birds will mind the stains.

A little something for our squirrel friends.

And a little something that made me giggle.  I can't wait to get a shot of a squirrel sitting in this chair, munching on corn!

Next week we'll take a look at what's already (or still) in the ground around the yard - onions, garlic, and the strawberries!

Here are a few sites I thought you might be interested in:

How to build your own squirrel chair.

Find the last frost free date for your area (using your zipcode) here.

Monday Mutterings, April 12

 Happy Monday!  After a short "blog break",  I'm back to posting!  I've got several things this week I can't wait to share!

On the home front, we're working on a bunch of school related projects that are driving me crazy (lol) and gearing up for Miss M's play, which is coming up in May.  I'm still looking for a floppy rain hat of some sort if anyone knows where to find one!

This past week I've thrown together a couple of new tinctures, learned how to make black salt, cooked some comfort food, and bought an awesome set of glass bowls at IKEA.  (I so love that place.)  And I can't wait to share what's new in my garden tomorrow!

In blog news, well, not much happened last week!!  But there is a new giveaway, located here if you haven't got a chance to check it out yet!

Hope you are having a wonderful spring so far!!