Magic Mail Dec 2017

Exploring Thoughts.. It is a Blog after all.

I have decided to blog today, not on birthdays or stones. Which are my favorite things, but types of witches.

Wha? There are more than one kind of witch

Well, yes little Jimmy there are.

There's a Celtic, White, Kitchen and Avalonian, and the list is simply endless. I'm sure you've heard of all the things that the term "Christian" represents: Catholics, Baptist, Pentecostal.  All those people who celebrate Christ's birth 2 seasons late. << Yea, I poked a bear. Put on your big girl panties and suck it up.

Witchcraft is no different. It's a blanket term.

So what has peeked my interest today?

Well you see, I went to the book store. I KNOW!! I was left unsupervised!

I found a new book!! What? You don't own them all?

I DON'T life goals, though. I need to make an electronic list of all the books I do own, so I don't end up with multiple copies (No real harm if I do, books are the gifts of my people!)

Today, I'm going to explore :  Murphy-Hiscock, Arin. The Green Witch

I like how its a "hard-to-find" title; I found it on accident. I have many books on greeness. This is actually my second title. I have a collection of herb books and mushrooms, etc.

So, What is a "Green" Witch


Urban Dictionary.

TOP DEFINITION

GREEN WITCH
noun. A witch specializing in the earthen world. A green witch is typically female, practices solitary, and is a Pagan. Green witches know much about the identities, myths, care, etc of plant life and seek to preserve it. They attempt to connect with the earthen world with New Age methods such as meditating. They acknowledge magic and use it in tune with natural forces to accomplish a goal, aka using witchcraft. These goals may include, but are not limited to: hearings, protections, blessings. Green witches are usually knowledgeable in herbal-ism.

Now to the book, 

"Historically, a green witch lived apart, using the energies of plants and trees around her to heal others. Those who needed her services traveled to see her. These days, a green witch is more likely to be living in the middle of a city or in the suburbs. She could work in any of a variety of fields, such as business, medicine, or teaching, or might even be a full-time mom."

I feel like this book is going to be insanely contradictory. 

Right in the beginning of the book "In essence, she lives the life of a green witch: she lives the green path"

Ok, you can not define something by using it as a definition. It's still early I'm gonna let that one slide. 

My opinion of a green witch, is: Some one who practices witch craft, who is mostly focused on "Earth" aka "green" magic. Women who are particularly interested in herbology, healing, teas, the practice of grounding toes in the dirt, washing negative energies away in a running spring. Green Witches are similar to Kitchen Witches who use herbs in their spell work and cooking, or Hedge Witches even. 

Oh look, page 20 "Similar paths"

Kitchen and Hedge are listed! 

Back to my opinions. It's a good read, full of learning, and a great reference. I have only read the introduction. I did just get it today. I have skimmed the rest of the book. It in many pages refer to the use of herbs, mortal and pedestal and other Earth based items used in witch craft. So, If you find yourself out and about and your more balanced in that quiet place in the park where the flowers are growing, you really like to make herb blends and tend to drink eucalyptus and lavender tea when your sick. You may just find yourself walking a Green Path.  

Engage with me moment. 

What types of witch catch your attention the most. 

Are you into 

Divination

Celtic

Green

White

Grey

Dark

Gypsy

Avalonian

Psychic

What type of witch are you. What does that label mean to you as someone who practices it?

What else should I be looking at. 

I collect a lot of aspects of many types of witch, an "Eclectic" Witch so to speak. 

Leave your answers in my comments and I'll send you a virtual thank you cookie. 

November 2017 Magic Mail

This months box is Kitchen Witch. I love this bag!!! No really. Just in case you are navigating me with a mobile and you can't get to all my side bar tagged things to check out. Inked Goddess Creations

So, in the video I let it slip out that the shopping list is missing an item... it's wine, it's missing wine. LMAO 

Herbs and Witch Terms

During Samhain celebration, my friends and I were discussing terms for herbs. Terms such as, for example: "Eye of Newt" and "Dead Mans Toe." Yes, I watch a lot of Hocus Pocus and Practical Magic. Sue me. There is truth in fiction, even if its a small fraction.

So here are a few links.

Tryskelion- Old World Names
Witchipedia- Herbs by Folk Names
Witchesofthecraft- Ancient Names
Thevillagewitch- Ancient Names
Gypsy Magic Spells (a blog) - Old Names for Herbs
Wicca.com- Herbal Magic

Of the Birthday October 6

I'm Having Technical Difficulties.. none of my pictures are uploading to the blog. Internet at my house is an ass hat.  (I just updated now with photos! on 2-28-18)

Crystal 

Jasper: Leopardskin Orbicular Jasper

Pretend there's a photo about here of a little polished stone 

Green or Orange bi-colored

Opaque leopard-like markings

Easily obtained

South America

A bridge to the deepest mysteries of duality, Leopardskin Jasper assists in redressing the balance between light and dark, teaching how to recognize dark as a complement to light rather than its opposite. 

Herb

Senega

another photo here of a green leafy thing

Common Name: Snake Root 

Part Used: Root and Rhizome

Collection: The roots and rhizome are collected in September and October

Senega comes to us from the Native Americans. It was used by the Seneca tribe for snake bites. It has excellent expectorant effects that may be utilized in the treatment of bronchitic asthma, especially where there is some difficulty with expectoration. 

Infusion: Pour a cup of boiling water onto 1/2- 1 teaspoonful of the dried root and let infuse for 10-15 minutes. This should be drunk 3 times a day. 

(copy and paste makes this part work!)

Birthday

Libra (Sept 23-Oct 22)

Element: Air

Ruling Planets: Venus, the lover

Symbol: The Scales

Tarot card: Justice (discernment)

Number:6

Favorable colors: Green, Purple, Pink

Key phrase: There are decisions to be made

Love Matches: Aries, Leo, and Saggittarius

October 6

"Every conflict is an opportunity for me to become more of who I am."

The birthday of the romantic adventurer.

Your greatest challenge is being realistic

On the Dark Side: Unreliable, superficial, sensationalist

At Your Best: Adventurous, energetic, spontaneous.

Birthstone

Wheel of the Year- Samhain Edition

Photo swiped from this page (isn't it beautiful!)

The Samhain book this info is from is Available to purchase

Old Ways

At Samhain the circle of the year has come to its final spoke in the Wheel. At this time harvest has finished, the dying god interred, and the goddess has descended to the underworld with her beloved. Above, her people prepare for the veil between the worlds to thin; dead ancestors will be visiting, and with the harvest tools put away, there's a new year to think about, resources to manage, goodbyes to say, and plans to make. Meanwhile, the now barren land gives way to the rulership of the Crone

The Fire Festival 

To the ancient Celts, Samhain marked the most important of four Celtic fire festivals. Located halfway between an equinox and a solstice, it is one of four cross-quarter festivals. Every year on the first frost after the full moon in October, families allowed their hearth fires to burn out. At this time, they brought back herd animals from grazing and completed gathering the harvest.

After the fires died, they gathered with the rest of their tribe to observe the Druid priests relighting the community sacred fire using friction. The priests induced friction with wheel and spindle: The wheel representing the sun turned from east to west and lit sparks. At this time, they made prayers and offerings or sacrifices related to their needs. 

The Christians 

When Christianity spread throughout Europe, the church officials went about converting the area heathens by converting their holidays. In the fifth century, Pope Boniface attempted to re-purpose the ritual, identifying it as a day to honor saints and martyrs, moving it to May 13. When the late October/November fire festivals continued anyway, in the 19th century Pope Gregory decided to move the saints and martyrs day back to the same day as the secular festival of the dead. The church resorted to declaring Nov 1 All Saint's Day and added All Souls' day on Nov 2.  

Eventually, both All Saint's and All Souls' became distinct holidays unto themselves, with All Saint's an observance for souls believed already ascended and All Souls' as a day to honor souls possibly still working out issues in purgatory. In Ireland, These days marked a time for family reunions after cow-milking season finished. Over time the night before Nov 1 called among many names Hallowe'en, Allhallows Eve, or Hallowmas, became the repository for most of the original Pagan practices. 

Lighting the Way for the Ancestors

The torches of the Welsh and the Jack-o'-lanterns left at the edge of walks "kept witches away," but they also lit a path for ancestors wandering across the veil. 

The fearsome things

While the early Celtic Christians invented Old Jack, the British Isles had other monsters to fear tracing back to their Pagan days. Yet others reflected the evolving political history of the Isles. Early on, People carried lanterns on Samhain night and went out in groups lest they run into any of a host of wicked characters. They might run afoul of a Pucah, a shape-shifting faery prone to both seduction and outright kidnapping. This was far from the only lurking shadow. 

The Lady Gwen was a woman who appeared dressed in white, sometimes headless and evil, sometimes playing the role of a benign lost soul. She chased travelers she caught wandering at night. 

Skipping tooooo 

New Ways

Many modern Pagans celebrate Samhain, either on the full moon closest to October 31 or on that date itself. At Samhain season, it is appropriate to invoke Morrighan, Dagda, Hades, Persephone, Hecate, and many other death and Witchcraft deities across many pantheons. 

Wiccans consider Samhain the end of the old year and the beginning of the new. Celtic Reconstructionists are Pagans who are trying to rebuild ancient Celtic Paganism is exactly as possible. They call Samhain Oiche Shamnhna, and try to make their observations as close tot he first frost as possible. Often Morrighan is venerated at this time. In Irish myth, Samhain marks the day that she and the Tuatha de Danaan god Dagda mated at the River Unis. Druids, October 31 is Samhain-a festival to honor the dead. Traditional Witches of Britain see Samhain as one of the great four fire festivals. Eclectic Witchcraft borrow from different traditions in a manner that spiritually resonates with them. 

Moving on- Other Holidays at this time are

All Soul's Day

All Saint's Day

Dia de los Muertos

Autumn Dziady

Hop-tu-Naa

Mischeif Night/Guy Fawkes Day

Trick or Treating

The witches way!

Treats instead of candy 

Small story scrolls: tiny (four line stories) rolled up tied with a ribbon

Origami fortune cookies: Make origami paper or out of square cut magazine paper and insert fun fortunes or silly facts inserted inside the "cookie"how to cookie

Miniature cootie-catchers: paper fortune tellers, you can write down numbers and symbols, or names on the inside. how to cootie

Other celebrations

Adopt an Ancestor - take care of a neglected grave. Clean off leaves and debri, offer water to the soil, call in vandilism

Have a Divination Party. 

A Candle Chain

Story Telling

Hold a Magical Movies: Dead like me, Wonderfalls, Practical Magick, Mirror Mask, What Dreams May Come, Haven, Midnight in Paris (Hocus Pocus, Harry Potter, The Craft LMAO) 

Spells and Divinations

A spell to settle debt

heat proof container, copies of bills you've paid, sturdy banishing herb (Solomon's seal, margoram, lilac twigs) 

Put the bill in the container and light it, chanting:

as these bills burn, chains melt, debts be fed, debts be dead. The money I earn I keep for myself!

As each bill burns, add a few pieces of your chosen herb. 

Other spells to cast during this time. 

Spells against sorrow

To heal grief

To break bad Luck

Assist in creative flow

The divination of Three Plates

Scottish Origin

Blind fold, 3 plates- one with grain, one with soil, one with net

Blindfold a person turn them around three times, then let their hand fall on a plate. 

Fortells for the next year

Grain= prosperity

Soil= death

Net= tangled fortune 

Recipes and Craft

Baked Apple

One cored apple per person
(per apple)
1 Tbs maple syrup
1 Tbs raisins
1 teaspoon allspice, cinnamon, or ground clove

Set cored apples in a glass dish, mix ingredients until evenly distributed. fill the apple, microwave on high 2 minutes per apple or preheat oven to 375  for 10-13 minutes

Pumpkin Seeds

1-2 cups of pumpkin seeds

1-2 tsps olive or sunflower oil

salt to tast

preheat oven 300

toss seeds with oil and salt spread evenly on cookie sheet bake about 45 minutes 

Make a mask

A blank template

Hot glue

feathers, beads, ribbon

or 

grocery sized PAPER bag

scissors

Crayons, paint, or markers

A stapler

elastic

Spin your fears

Paper plate, construction paper

scissors, crayons & markers

fastener 

cut a small isosceles (2 long 1 short side) triangle out of the construction paper to make a pointer, set aside. Take a marker and divide the plate into 4 pie shaped sections. in each section write a fear. Fasten the triangle to the plate. Spin the triangle. focus on the theme

Goodies for Samhain

I'm struggling with where to start this blog, I'll get to the wheel of the year later for that reason. Halloween and fall have always been a favorite. I am a fall baby! 

With that being said ... I'm sort of inspired by the Double Double Toil & Trouble, October Magic Mail Theme. 

Where does a person start with so much damn potential... Well 

Your altar, Your crafts, Your new beginnings spell. 

Ladies and Gentlemen and Witches. THE NEW YEAR IS UPON US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, enough of my sillyness, On with the links and the crafts and the celebrating! On with the APPLES and the PUMPKINS and the LEAVES and the SMELL OF THE CRISP AIR.

In the references there are links to all things in the crafts and etc to give credit to where I found the idea, and also so you can check out what other really cool shit they have going on. 

Crafts

Grave Rubbings ooo spooky. 

 All you need for this activity is some lightweight paper, tape and a crayon. Make sure that you wipe off any offending dirt or dust that's on the tombstone first before you begin your rubbing.

After you've dusted the grave off, simply place the paper onto the tombstone and tape it up as best you can. Next, use the long side of your crayon to rub back and forth onto the paper, and you will begin to see the words on the tombstone appear on your paper. Take this home with you and use it along with your other Samhain decorations!

Recipes

Warm Drinks for Cold Samhain Nights

What better way to celebrate Samhain than with some hot apple cider?

For apple cider, take a large pot and combine 1 1/2 gallons of apple cider, 2 cinnamon sticks, 5 cloves, 1 large orange sliced thin and with the peel left on it, half of a lemon sliced thin with the peel left on it, and half a cup of sugar. Heat it until it reaches the temperature that you prefer and enjoy!

If you happen to like apple cider but don't feel up to making it yourself, you could always buy Trader Joe's spiced apple cider and use that instead. It's a delicious alternative to homemade apple cider.

For adults, homemade mulled wine is a traditional favorite. In a large pot, pour in one bottle of your favorite red wine (Merlot or Cabernet for me), one peeled and sliced orange, one peeled and sliced lemon, 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 2 teaspoons ground ginger, 5 whole cloves, 3 cinnamon sticks, 1/2 cup of sugar, 2/3 cup brandy or cognac, and 1/2 cup of water.

Warm these ingredients for 25 minutes, but be sure to avoid accidentally boiling the mixture. Once the mulled wine is warm enough and the sugar has dissolved completely, it is ready to serve.

Don't forget to serve up some pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread and muffins with your drinks!

pinterest gots this

Celebrate By

Set Up an Ancestor Shrine

In many Pagan traditions, the ancestors are honored, especially at Samhain. This Sabbat, after all, is the night when the veil between our world and the spirit world is at its most fragile. By setting up an ancestor shrine or altar, you can honor the people of your bloodline -- your kinfolk and clansmen who have helped to shape the person you are. This altar or shrine can be set up just for the Samhain season, or you can leave it up all year long for meditation and rituals.

If you've got the room, it's nice to use an entire table for this shrine, but if space is an issue, you can create it in a corner of your dresser top, on a shelf, or on the mantle over your fireplace. Regardless, put it in a place where it can be left undisturbed, so that the spirits of your ancestors may gather there, and you can take time to meditate and honor them without having to move stuff around every time someone needs to use the table.

Also, bear in mind that you can honor anyone you like in this shrine. Someone doesn't have to be a blood relative to be part of our spiritual ancestry. 

References

Grave Rubbing & Warm Drinks

Thoughtco-Samhain

Samhain activties

tressabelle

Everything samhain