Merry Meet

“I Finish This Project”

Lavender is one of my favorite herbs to use and grow, as it has many uses and is very fragrant. It’s a hardy perennial that falls under the house of Mercury, and usually has protective, clarifying, and even cleansing energies. 

Lavender is most often used to calm ones nerves, or headaches from stress and fatigue. A lesser known use is that it can also be made into a diluted wash to be used for acne or skincare as well!

🌿To make the infusion, I used dried Lavender buds from a local Asian market, where it is sold to be put into tea. Per the instructions, you must rinse the buds and then soak them in water for around 30 minutes. 

🌿For my own brew, I used ½ ounce of Lavender buds and once they had been soaking, I steeped them for 15 minutes in 1 pint of hot water. Feel free to add honey or other sweeteners to taste! The infusion comes out pleasantly fragrant and not too strong. 

*Please make sure that when making herbal teas that you know where your herbs are coming from! Some may not be edible due to pesticides or other circumstances, so make sure that you do research before consuming them.

**Also, please be aware that using too strong of an infusion or using concentrated oil of Lavender can cause headaches, skin irritation, constipation, or an increased appetite. The herb also may interact with any sedatives that you may be taking.

☀️jar

☀️cinnamon 2 sticks

☀️bay leaves 2

☀️red pen -optional-

☀️black pepper

☀️orange peels 3

☀️clam shell 1

☀️Red,White,Black candles

First step is obviously to cleanse the area and each of your items.

Second I line the bottom of the bottle with black pepper for protection

Third add cinnamon for happiness and protection and solar magic

Fourth write a wish on bay leaves with pen -if you have a specific goal and not just joy and inspiration- or add leaves to jar to bring luck

Fifth add in the orange peels to bring luck and joy, and creativity

Sixth add shell to promote love

Seventh seal with wax from all three candels

Eighth let charge from sunrise to sunset.

Whilst talking with my aunt–who is a devout herbalist in another circle in her own town– about herbal remedies, she brought up the word emmenagogue. In this case, the word refers to an herb or plant that can stimulate menstrual flow. For those who may have late menstruation or elongated cycles, this may be quite a helpful remedy, but to uninformed users, it may also have detrimental effects. Most emmenagogues also act as abortifacients, as in, they may harm a pregnancy or can cause miscarriages.

My reason for writing this post is that there are some common herbs that people use for other reasons that may in fact also have emmenagogue/abortifacient properties. Most posts that I see do not address this, and I’d like my followers and the rest of the online witchblr community to be informed as well.

In most cases, you should not take more than the recommended dosage of any herb anyways, especially if you are taking other prescribed medications. If you are pregnant or are thinking of conceiving, please stay away from these herbs entirely and look for alternatives, and please make sure to do extensive research beforehand on anything you decide to use!

The emmenagogues that I have found I will list below along with their common uses otherwise. Herbs in bold are mainly used as emmenagogues and/or are dangerous in anything other than 1 gram dosing.

Angelica (heartburn, insomnia), Bay Laurel (muscle aches), Blessed Thistle (diuretic, bacterial infections) , Bloodroot (emetic, bacterial infections), Blue Cohosh (reducing inflammation, cramps), Catnip (insomnia, headaches), Chamomile (insomnia, stomach ulcers), Slippery Elm (sore throat, heartburn), Feverfew (migraines, nausea), Goldenseal (respiratory infections), Horsetail (edema, incontinence), Lady’s Slipper (insomnia, anxiety), Majoram (common cold), Marshmallow (sore throat, stomach ulcers), Mistletoe (high blood pressure), Motherwort (anxiety, high blood pressure), Mugwort (tonic, sedative), Myrrh (indigestion, cough), Parsley (menstrual flow, high blood pressure), Pennyroyal (antiseptic), Peppermint (common cold, headaches), Rue (neuromuscular problems), Sage (digestive problems, heartburn), Tansy (migraines, stomach ulcers), Verbena (sore throat, depression), Wintergreen (analgesic, cramps).

If you have any questions about this post or about other herbs and their dosing or safety concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me through my messages! I will always respond and try to give as detailed or informed of an answer as I can.

Thank you for reading, and blessed be!

Rosemary is an evergreen shrub that originally comes from the Mediterranean. It is ruled by the Sun, and is most often used for evening out blood pressure, stomach aches, increasing memory, headache relief and for menstrual cramps. It can also be used as a rinse for your hair to decrease dandruff.

🌿Make sure that you have culinary grade rosemary, and wash it with cold water. Then, steep 2/3 of an ounce to 1 ounce in 1 pint of hot water for at least 20 minutes. Drink 1/3 of a cup as needed, not exceeding 2 cups a day. This infusion will come out moderate to strongly tasting, so feel free to dilute the 1/3 of a cup with another liquid at the time of drinking.

*Please make sure that when making herbal teas that you know where your herbs are coming from! Some may not be edible due to pesticides or other circumstances, so make sure that you do research before consuming them.

**Please keep in mind that ingesting too much of the infusion can cause vomiting, stomach irritation and kidney damage. Do not drink this if you are pregnant as it may cause excess bleeding, or if you have seizures, as it may worsen the effects. Rosemary contains salicylate, which is an ingredient in aspirin products, therefore if you are allergic to aspirin please be careful how much you ingest medicinally. 

Summer is over, Winter is in full swing, and Yule is upon us. 

Yule, pronounced “yool”, falls on the 21st of December in the Northern Hemisphere, a date that is also known as the Winter Solstice. In the Southern Hemisphere (below the equator), Yule falls on the 21st of June.

The Winter Solstice is the day of the year when the night is longest and the day is shortest. After the solstice, the days begin to grow longer and the nights shorter.

Some Historical & Cultural Stuff:

Yule is the time of the year when the “dark half” of the year ends and the “light half begins”. 

Until the 16th century, the winter months were infamous for being times of famine in Europe - most cattle were slaughtered during this time so that they did not need to be fed during the winter. The feed was needed for the mouths of the farmers and the people. This meant that the solstice was a time when meat was plentiful, and is the reason why a lot of the celebrations surrounding this time of year centre around feasting and merriment.

In pre-Christian Scandinavia, there was a feast (named the Feast of Juul) that lasted for twelve (12) days. It celebrated the rebirth of the sun, and from this feast came the custom of burning a Yule log.

In ancient Rome, the Festival of Saturnalia (famously referenced in an episode of The Big Bang Theory) was the pillar of solstice celebrations. It was used to honour the God of agricultural bounty, Saturn and lasted around a week. Saturnalia was characterised by feasting, debauchery and the exchanging of gifts. Does that sound familiar? Well, it should! Many of these customs were absorbed and assimilated into Christian Christmas celebrations upon Emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity. This was done to make the conversion less of a shock.

Yule Associations: 

Colours:  Red, green, gold; white; silver; yellow.

Herbs & Plants: Mistletoe, Snowdrop, Lemongrass; Chive; Cinnamon; Sage; Rosemary; Ginger; Garlic; Orange Peel; Dill; Basil; Black Pepper; Bay Leaf; Ash; Thistle; Evergreen; Cedar; Frankincense; Holly; Ivy; Juniper; Mistletoe; Oak; Pine; Sandalwood; Yew; Cypress; Fir; Comfrey; Elder; Chestnut; Myrrh.

Symbols: Mistletoe, pillar candles in any associated colour, evergreen boughs and wreaths; fruit studded with cloves; wassail; Yule logs; holly.

Food & Drink: Yule log, wine (mulled), cider; turkey; lamb; venison; beef; cranberries; stew; pork; nuts; oranges; clementines. Seasonal vegetables. Wassail. Apples. Fruit. Cakes soaked in alcohol.

Stones Crystals & Metals: Gold, silver, diamonds; rubies; emeralds; bloodstone’ quartz.

Activities & Things to Do: Carolling. Wassailing, feasting, exchanging gifts; burning fires/candles; decorating a Yule tree and making decorations to put on it, such as Witch Balls, clove pricked fruit; make Winter potpourri.

Chakras are part of closed practices. Find a different theory on energy centres and how they work. I have my own here but there are many more that exist.

Do your research. Question everything. Don’t follow Tumblr posts blindly. Do your research, make sure that research is credible. Some authors out there are shitty (Edred Thorsson for example). Some Etsy shop owners appropriate. Do your research.

Support minority businesses! Support local businesses!

The best basic herbs to have on hand are: sage, rosemary, cinnamon, thyme, lavender, sea salt. 

For the love of the gods, please ward. The first time you ward, you will most likely sleep upwards of 10+ hours because it is draining as hell but WARD. Wards will keep you safe from entities that seek to harm you.

ALWAYS have a good banishing spell and a good return to sender spell on hand if you need it. Here is Part 1 of a good masterpost on protections and warding.

Always be a skeptic. Don’t just believe things blindly. Is a god telling you they’re an actual god? Question them. Do your research on that god. Always question.

DO NOT INGEST ESSENTIAL OILS. They’re meant to be applied topically with a carrier oil. Don’t ingest them.

Some herbs will interact with your medication if you’re on them. If you’re on medication and want to try herbal remedies, talk to your doctor to make sure that your herbal remedy won’t negatively interact with your medication.

Tarot cards don’t need to be gifted or stolen in order to work. That’s a myth. However, if you feel like you’d like your tarot decks to be gifted to you, do that. Whatever you’re comfortable with.

Your first tarot deck doesn’t have to be explicitly Raider Waite Smith. My first deck was a variation on the traditional RWS style and it allowed me to read tarot more intuitively.

There’s no shame in using a tarot guidebook. There’s 78 cards that’s a LOT to memorize. I haven’t memorized them all and I’ve been reading tarot for two years now. Take your time and don’t be embarrassed to read tarot from a guidebook. I do paid tarot readings and still use my guidebooks.

If you’re worried about wasting food as an offering, it’s okay to eat them. I do it. Many others do it. If you’re still wary about eating the food, if you have plant friends, you can just bury the offerings (especially relevant for chthonic worshippers).

The Theoi website is one of the best for information on Hellenism. Every thing written on that website is cited back to an Ancient Greek text, or even several.

PLEASE PRACTICE FIRE SAFETY. If you’re burning an object in a metal bowl, don’t touch the bowl afterwards. You may burn yourself. Have something to put out a fire on hand should something happen. Don’t burn hair. Crack a window so you don’t inhale smoke. Be safe with fire.

☀️jar

☀️cinnamon 2 sticks

☀️bay leaves 2

☀️red pen -optional-

☀️black pepper

☀️orange peels 3

☀️clam shell 1

☀️Red,White,Black candles

First step is obviously to cleanse the area and each of your items.

Second I line the bottom of the bottle with black pepper for protection

Third add cinnamon for happiness and protection and solar magic

Fourth write a wish on bay leaves with pen -if you have a specific goal and not just joy and inspiration- or add leaves to jar to bring luck

Fifth add in the orange peels to bring luck and joy, and creativity

Sixth add shell to promote love

Seventh seal with wax from all three candels

Eighth let charge from sunrise to sunset.

Hello! I’m a tarot reader and I’d love to read your fortune for you! I accept donations, but here’s a good general pricing for me.

The rules are simple: Ask me a question, and the cards will answer!

GENERAL:

$1 - One card: Simple answer. A small insight on things!

$3 - Three cards: Past, Present, Future.

$5 - Five cards: Decision Making. I can help you make decisions by telling you outcomes of each choice.

SPECIALS:

$5 - 5 Cards: General advice for any situation!

$5 - 6 Cards: Motivational Cards - Need some self love? The cards can help you!

$10 - 12 Cards: I can tell what your year could be like!

Venmo: Here

Hey guys I need a little extra money bc I’m taking summer classes at uni and it’s mad expensive so I’m opening up some commissions.

I do tarot commissions! Yay!!

$5 for two card readings, $7 for three, and $10-20 for the big boy spreads. If you’re interested or know anyone who might be interested please reach out!! (I DO NOT DO COLD READINGS)