Cheryl Blue Heron

Aries: Nothing evil stalks the forest. The wild is bigger than you could ever imagine. You are nothing to it. No skinwalker or boogeyman or revenant could ever aspire to the persistence and hunger of the wild untamed.

Taurus: Sometimes the world just wont make sense, no matter how hard you try. Truth is stranger than fiction, and yours is stranger still.

Gemini: There is a deep and old power in that of the image. As long as cameras existed they have been a tool to tell what is really there.

Cancer: Walls work both ways you know. Careful about where you put them.

Leo: Today is a good day to be warm. Not too hot. Just warm. Wrap yourself up in blankets and get some tea, Warm.

Virgo: The time is now, the writing is on the wall. Your writing has won a contest and has been framed. 

Libra: Healthy respect usually means it was learned the hard way. Trust in the opinions of people with more scars and less limbs.

Scorpio: You never thought you’d get this far but here you are, lost as fuck like everyone else. Do like everyone else and pretend you planned this.

Ophiuchus: History was, is, and continues to be, handled poorly.

Sagittarius: Exploration leads to the unknown. Fear is rooted in what we do not understand. A shotgun really can kill most things. 

Capricorn: Make boring things fun by acting completely on impulse and rolling with how people react.

Aquarius: A last ditch effort is a good time to try something really crazy or really funny. If you’re going to lose, do it with style.

Let’s just start a series of crash courses in witchcraft, since sometimes we need to learn things the quick and dirty way. Today, let’s talk about wards.

What are wards? Wards are protective energy barriers. They keep things out. You can place them around your home, certain rooms, even on certain objects. With practice and clear intentions, you can focus the wards to block out everything or only certain things. We’ll get to that in a bit.

Why should I ward my space and my things? Wards can keep out all sorts of things you don’t want in your home. They can block out negative entities, wayward spirits, mischievous entities, demons, and (if you’re really good at what you’re doing) even gods. Some people ward their divination tools so they know there are no spirits tampering with the results.

So what do I need to do first? Cleanse. This is very important. Wards are kind of like walls, or perhaps more accurately, bubbles. If you don’t clean the space first, you might trap things inside your ward bubble. You do not want that. There are lots of methods of cleansing, from burning sage to spritzing oil-infused water. Find a method you’re comfortable with and cleanse everything you’re going to be warding.

I’ve cleansed my home/item. Now what? Now we ward. I’m going to give you a couple methods. Let’s start with my favorite, incense warding.

Incense warding can also be done with spritzes of water/essential oil blends or herb-infused water if you can’t have smoke in your space. Whichever you’re using, you want to have a blend of protective herbs. Bay leaves, cinnamon, ginger, mustard seed, and salt are some great options that you can find in the grocery store, no fancy witch shop necessary. If you’re using incense, make sure you’re using natural incense and not super cheap stuff that’s artificially scented. The magic is in the herbs, and you won’t get that from fake scents.

How to Incense/Spritz Ward an Item

Smoke or spray item.

Visualize the smoke or spray clinging to the item and wrapping around it like a tight blanket, protecting it from anything that would cause harm (or interference, etc.).

How to Incense/Spritz Ward Your Space

Pick a place to start. I always start at my altar, but it’s up to you. If you’re doing multiple floors, start either at the top or bottom floor.

Moving continuously to your right, smoke or spray along the walls and door frames. As you go, imagine a barrier being formed around the walls, ceiling, and floor, pushing outwards to fill the room. Visualize the smoke or spray forming the barrier to keep out anything that will do you harm. [If you have a hard time with visualization, you can simply focus on the intent of the smoke or spray keeping things out.]

Keep moving right, following the layout of your home, making sure you get all the closet spaces. You basically want to outline the entire area you’re protecting, whether it’s you’re room or your whole house.

For multiple floors, repeat on each level.

For big layouts where there are rooms in the middle, go around those rooms as well.

I like to reinforce the wards over outside doors, windows, and mirrors. These are all passages of sorts, and when I reach them, I use the incense to draw a pentagram in the air over them. This is entirely up to you.

You’re done when you’ve reached the point where you began.

So why do we go to the right? Is that important? Kind of. Going to the right is like going clockwise. It’s about making things and progression, where going to the left or counter-clockwise is about deconstruction or reversal. [I read this idea in a witchy book a long time ago and will try to find a source when I can. If you honestly don’t feel it makes a difference, do whatever you’re comfortable with.]

Can I place wards that keep out certain things but not others? Sure. When you’re going around your space/warding your item, your intent is what’s important. I like to ward out entities that mean harm - it’s nice and general and doesn’t keep the fae out. Some people might want certain spirits and not others. Have your intentions clear in your mind as you place your wards.

That’s neat and all, but what are some other ways to ward? Let’s list a few.

Symbol/Sigil Wards

Choose (or make) a symbol or sigil that has protective properties. I’ve done this with Pluto’s astrological symbol because I worship him and it’s my way of being like, “Hey, Pluto. Please protect me, kthanxbai.” Pentagrams are nice and basic witchy/pagan symbols if you like them.

Draw the symbol over doors and windows. You do not literally have to draw it. It can be in water, incense smoke, or just your finger against the surface if you want.

As you’re drawing, make sure you have your intentions in mind - that nothing harmful can pass through this door, that the windows remain closed against entities, etc.

Energy Bubbles (if you have control over your energy)

Pick an item - any item.

Get your warding intentions in mind.

Channel lots of energy into the item. Visualize it emanating from the item in a bubble to fill your space.

If you’ve got mad skillz, you can form the bubble to the walls and be super exact with where its barriers are.

Vocal Wards

If you like spoken (or thought) spells, come up with a small chant to protect your space.

You can repeat this chant as you focus on your item being protected or as you walk around your home, protecting every room.

This is really great to incorporate into basically any other form of warding and gives your magic an extra bit of oomph.

I’ve heard wards can “fade” over time. True or false? Wards are just energy. Like all energies, they can disperse and weaken over time, or if something particularly nasty puts effort into destroying them. Redo your wards every so often (I do mine every few months, but it’s up to you), and especially before spiritual interactions. I also like to do mine after I’ve had lots of company, to kind of clear out family’s lingering energies and reinforce what I don’t want in my house.

Cast Iron Care

I grew up in what I call a cast iron family. All the pans were cast iron, we had a few enamel pots for pasta, and one beat up copper bottomed pan for boxed mac and cheese. My mom cooked most days and when she didn’t, it was mac and cheese or pasta because we weren’t allowed to cook with her pans unless she was there.

Cast iron has some mixed reviews, some (me), swear by it and some, think it’s difficult and impossible to cook with…and they’re right to a degree (get it, degree, cooking, farenheit, celcius…sorry), if you don’t know how to care for cast iron, it’s a hassle and a mess. That’s what this post is for though!

Seasoning

Seasoning is the term used to treat and clean cast iron. Even when you buy a new “pre-seasoned” pan, you’re going to want to season it yourself. A major benefit of cooking with cast iron is that it retains flavor, and makes its own seasoning for your food…like magic!

Step 1: Clean your pan with HOT water and a scouring brush, rough side of a sponge, or steel wool. Nothing else…just water and something rough.

Step 2: Dry it completely with paper towels, and then place it on a lit stovetop burner for a minute or so to make sure it’s completely dry.

Step 3: While the pan is warm, probably 10-20 minutes after you remove from stove, (because it retains heat like no one’s business, and I don’t want you to burn yourself) pour some oil* into the pan and spread it around, completely coating the inside. Wipe off excess.

Step 4: Place in the oven set to 200º F, Upside Down for 2 hours

BOOM! Your pan is seasoned and ready to cook with.

*But Barber, what kind of oil? That’s mostly up to you, but canola is the classic standard (vegetable oil) but I use olive oil or canola, depending on what I used last. You can use any vegetable oil you want, whether that’s grapeseed, sunflower or flax seed, but there’s no reason to go crazy and buy a “Cast Iron Care Oil” because that’s literally just a marked up bottle of canola…No Lies.

NEVER USE SOAP WHEN CLEANING YOUR CAST IRON,and here’s why…**

Soap is great for clothes, and your body, and even your car, but not for Cast Iron. Cast iron is a porous metal, so when you put something in, it absorbs. When you cook with it regularly, and oil it regularly, it creates its own nonstick surface! It’ll absorb the taste of herbs and spices you cook with regularly, and everything gets a mild flavor boost from whatever you cooked in it previously. When you use soap, it removes that surface and flavor; soap can absorb and flavor your food, and no one wants soapy fritatas.

Now, the seasoning steps above are used when you get a new pan, or need to re-season a rusted pan. It’ll restore it like new. But what about cleaning after cooking something tastey?

Cleaning and Upkeep

Step 1: While the pan is still warm, take rock salt and/or a non-metal brush (like the one above that I use) and go crazy scrubbing it.***

Step 2: Rinse with warm water, and dry with a paper towel (I say paper towel, because it’ll actually raise up some iron, and turn your towel black…better use a disposable towel, or risk staining your nice linens) after that, feel free to put on the stove top for a minute to make sure it’s all dry

Step 3: Coat with a little oil, wipe up excess, and store in your oven or broiler.

Special notes: The heat, salt you use to scrub, and iron itself all equal one great big anti-bacterial surface, so no worries about not using soap and feeling like you’ll get salmonella. Because it’s a porous surface, air drying is a no-no. It’ll lead to rust, and then you’ll have to scrub it off and completely re-season it (refer to first seasoning process).

**The soap thing. You can use soap. I never do. Most soaps these days aren’t as damaging and stripping as the old ones. Again, you can use soap, but I never will because like I said, that’s how i grew up, my tradition, this is a part of my witchcraft practice, and it works for me. Updated 10/27/18 p.s. idk about y’all, but I use dish soap to get rid of oil, so while tons of people message me about using soap on it, I still am not going to break tradition of not using soap on a pan older than me. 11/27/18

I don’t know how many tumblr witches know, this could be old news, but I found that this is the best place to get jars/bottles to feed my obsession! They have a bunch of different colors, but most of them are clear. They have different shapes and such, and they’re very very cheap, even the jugs !! In their FAQ they said it’s fine to even order just 1 bottle at a time, even though most people order a bunch at once. It’s honestly the best deal on high quality bottles and jars that I’ve found so far! I would honestly skip Amazon and go straight here. 10/10!

And if that isn’t foreshadowing, I don’t know what is.

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who participated, and considered my idea worthy of their time. I’d doubly like to thank those who reported in either through messages or posts. Reading through the various experiences people had all over the world on that day was heart-touching.

Second of all, for those who experienced little to no change: Uranus entering Taurus happened on a new moon and usually new moons are more about planting seeds than they are sudden and quick manifestations. Yesterday we planted seeds. So let’s just see what happens in the next couple of months both in your life and in the world.

Third of all, during the May 15th ritual we performed, some pretty intense weather phenomena occurred…from what I hear, a lightning storm that raged in the skies of Washington DC in the United States.

A lightning storm, guys.

While portals didn’t rip open in the skies, I believe the storm was a good confirmation that our dreams were heard, and that our seeds have been planted. Now it’s just a matter of time and living our lives as magically and authentic to our truest selves as possible.

If you liked the May 15th mass ritual and want to participate in more events like that, feel free to follow my blog! I’ll hopefully be doing more and my sharing experiences. I’m just about to upload my write-up for my May 15th ritual at the Stonehenge on Maryhill.

For those of you who experienced anything interesting or need to ask questions based on stuff that happened afterwards, feel free to message me.

I’m honestly excited for what happens next!

Seven days have passed since the May 15th mass spell and suddenly a giant sink hole has opened up on the Whitehouse lawn and seems to be growing at an alarming rate.

Link below:

strawberries are well known in magick to bring about good fortune and favourable circumstances. this is a simple spell to call the energy of the strawberry and bring you luck and perhaps help improve the outcome of a situation. best done during a waxing moon. you will need:

♥  a large ripe strawberry (luck, fortune, favor)

♥  a pinch of sugar (getting what you wish for)

♥ a green candle (good luck and fortune)

light the green candle and hold the strawberry in your hand. pluck the leaf from the top and wave it over the flame (so as not to burn it), then place it in front of the candle to rest.

as you hold the strawberry, think about the issue at hand and what you’d like the outcome to be. meditate on that until you feel as though the strawberry has been adequately charged.