Rat Bastard

You have been looking for you only feel one emotion at a time by @inabottlelikelightning!

Even with Theo's perverted-supernatural healing, spending a good part of his supernatural adolescence being cut open on a surgical table by the Dread Doctors, over and over again, without any anesthetic, leaves marks. Maybe not physical ones, but scars don't need to be on the outside to hurt. Theo's not worried, because he stopped hurting a long time ago.

Heavenly Lavender Scones

A Spell for Happiness and Anxiety Relief 💜🦋✨

I think we all need a little bit more joy and a little less spiraling misery. I won’t pretend that life isn’t deeply challenging right now, and I wrote this spell to carve out a bit of delicious relief. Make these scones and see for yourself <3

Lavender is associated with calm and anxiety relief, and it’s also associated with Selene, goddess of the moon. The heady scent of dried lavender serves as a reminder of summers past and that there will be summers again.

Scones:

* 2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour

* 1/3 cup (67 grams) granulated sugar

* 1 tablespoon (12 grams) baking powder

* 1/2 teaspoon salt

* 5 tablespoons (70 grams) unsalted butter chilled and diced

* 1 tablespoon dried lavender

* 2/3-3/4 cup (158-177 milliliters) heavy cream plus extra for brushing

* 1 large egg

* 1/2 vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

* Decorating sugar

Vanilla Glaze:

* 1 cup (120 grams) powdered sugar

* 1/2 vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

* 1-2 tablespoons (15-30 milliliters) milk

* Dried Lavender for garnish

Instructions:

* Preheat oven to 400˚F (200˚C). Line a baking sheet with parchment or lightly grease.

* In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

* Quickly cut in the butter using a dough blender, food processor, two forks, or your fingers until blended and no pieces are larger than a pea.

* Pour the tablespoon of lavender right into your hand and imagine a white light surrounding the herbs. Imagine that it is a light of gentle healing and joy. Say to yourself “I invite joy and relaxation into my life” while focusing on holding the light around the herbs.

* In a small bowl, whisk together your now enchanted dried lavender, 2/3 cup (158 ml) heavy cream, egg, and seeds from the vanilla bean (or extract).

* Gently mix the cream mixture into the dry ingredients until the dough just comes together. Add most but not all of the cream mixture at first. You want a shaggy dough. Add a little more cream only if the dough is too crumbly to hold. It should not be sticky.

* On a lightly floured surface, smush and pat the dough out into a circle, pressing it together so that it is not shaggy anymore. The circle should be about 3/4” high.

* Cut the circle into 8ths and transfer to a prepared parchment lined baking sheet.

* Brush the tops of the scones with a thin layer of heavy cream and then immediately sprinkle with your decorating sugar. Bake in preheated oven until lightly golden, 21-24 minutes. Gently transfer the scones to a wire rack and cool to room temperature.

* In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar with the seeds from a vanilla bean or vanilla extract. Whisk in 1-2 tablespoons milk until a smooth glaze forms.

* Drizzle the glaze over the cooled scones and immediately sprinkle with a small pinch of dried lavender if desired.

Self-love & confidence Spell Jar✨

1. Let the feelings of love, confidence, sexiness, and success flow through your being.

2. Meditate on the following intention:

“I am beautiful and sexy. I reach my goals and am a successful person. I make my dreams come true.”

3. Cleanse your spell jar.

4. Fill the jar with ingredients of your choice:

Pink Himalayan salt

Mint leaves

Pink rose petals

Pieces of rose quartz

Pieces of citrine

Dried orange peel (how to make it)

Thyme

Rosemary

Bay leaf with written intention

White/pink candle wax to seal the jar

4. Manifest and meditate your intention.

We love Yule around here! My family began celebrating Yule openly about two years ago. Since then, I have always added more things every year.

This is going to be a masterpost of things I already do or want to do for Yule.

I am compiling my own resources and will be adding to this post up until Yule

BC - Broom Closet Friendly

KF- Kid Friendly

DF- Dorm Friendly

*- May need modifications to fit

Slightly early Samhain greetings to you all! 

Anyone familiar with my witch!Emma stories, namely The Very Witching Time and The Eternal and Unseen, I hope will remember that Samhain (called Calan Gaeaf in Unseen, because that was based in Welsh tradition) plays a very important role in those verses and Emma’s life and practice. Also in both stories is a reference to soul cakes (cacennau enaid in Unseen, because Welsh). 

Soul cakes are a real thing. What exactly they are can be a bit hard to pin down because there are many different traditions surrounding them, and for each tradition even more recipes. They can be soft and thick like a scone or thin and crispy like a cookie, and flavoured with a variety of spices. Some have dried fruit like currants or raisins, some don’t. One constant is that they always have a cross over the top, either cut into them or made with lines of fruit. 

As part of my research for Witching, because I may be a leeetle itty bit obsessive about accuracy and details, I read dozens of different soul cake recipes and, of course, ultimately developed my own. I prefer the thin and crispy ones, so that’s what I went for–they’re a bit like a spicy sugar cookie, sweet and surprisingly rich. 

And so, for Samhain this year, since I don’t have the witchy autumn fic I really wanted to write, I thought I’d share my recipe with you all. It’s very easy to make so even if you’re not an accomplished baker (as I am not) you should be able to manage it. 

Enjoy! 

soul cakes à la saira

ingredients: 

225 g butter (1 cup)

225 g sugar (1 cup plus 2 T)

pinch of salt

pinch of saffron (optional, because it’s freaking expensive and also very powerful as a flavour–not everyone likes it. If you use it, use just the tiniest pinch or it will overwhelm everything else)

2 eggs +1 yolk 

spices to taste (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, mixed spice, ginger or any combination thereof–I use a tiny bit of allspice and a metric shitton of nutmeg and cinnamon)

420 g flour (3 and 1/3 cups)

currants (optional)(maybe 200g? I don’t use them. As many as look right in the dough)(also possible to use raisins, if you like to ruin your cookies) (this is a joke)(kind of)

directions: 

cream butter and sugar until very light and fluffy. Add saffron at this point and blend well. Add eggs and yolk one at a time and beat well after each. Sift flour, salt, and spices together then add to the sugar mixture, beat until well incorporated. Stir in currants if you MUST. 

(the dough may seem stiff and too floury at first. Keep going, the flour will blend eventually) 

chill the dough for at least half an hour (lasts for up to a few days in the fridge and can also be frozen) then turn onto heavily floured board (dough will be sticky) and press out then roll to about ¼ inch (can be as little as 1/8 inch for crispy biscuits–I like mine crispy so I go very thin). Cut out with a round biscuit (cookie) cutter and place on lined baking sheet. Gently impress them with the dull edge of a knife on the top to form the shape of a cross–don’t cut too deeply into the cookie. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 200 Celsius(395F) or 190C/375F if you have a fan oven) until they are very lightly brown around the edges. Don’t let them get too dark. 

let them cool for a minute or two on the baking sheet before removing them. 

you can gather and re-roll the scraps multiple times but chill them between each roll or they will get sticky. This is a sticky dough but flour it generously and treat it gently and it’s easy enough to manage. 

This recipe makes a solid 2 dozen soul cakes, depending on how thick you roll them. 

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Soul cakes are great with tea or hot apple cider. You can also put jam on them–apple or cranberry jam or apple butter would be good. In some recipes they are sandwiched with jam between them. It’s a very flexible recipe. 

Lughnasadh is coming up soon and I could not be more excited! I can already see signs of the upcoming harvest in my garden and have already gathered some herbs and vegetables. Here are som correspondences and ways I’ll be celebrating 🥬

Foods 🥘

Bread 🍞 Oats 🥣 Rice 🍙 Corn🌽Honey 🍯 Fruit 🍉 Baked goods 🍰 Summer Squash 🍆 Zucchini 🥒 Salad 🥗Summer Vegetables 🍅 Roast Nuts 🌰 Mint 🌱

Colours 🌈

Light Brown 🤎 Gold⚜️ White 🤍Yellow 💛 Green 💚 Orange 🧡

Crystals 🔮

ametrine, pyrite, citrine, peridot, rose quartz, yellow diamond, tigers eye, and clear quartz

Altar decorations 🎎

Corn dolly 🌽

Wheat stalks 🌾

Prosperity symbols (gold coins, jewellery, bills, etc.) 💰

Achievements (trophies, awards, and certificates) 🏆

Representations of your skills ✍️

Solar symbols ☀️

Harvest symbols ⚒️

Activities 🎨

Bake bread and share it! 🥖 A tried and true lughnasadh tradition. Whether it’s a herby focaccia, fluffy biscuits, or a simple quick bread, bread is an integral part of the sabbat. My sister and I will be making a loaf of our favorite Korean milk bread recipe to celebrate🥛

Put an ash leaf under your pillow for prophetic dreams 🌿I recently read about this tradition and will be trying on the night of lughnasadh🛏

Have a s’mores bonfire/ weenie roast 🌭This is a wonderful activity for almost every fire festival and is so fun to do with friends. Get creative with cooking over the fire 🔥

Light candles with scents and/or colors that correspond with the season 💛A gold candle for prosperity or a yellow candle for positivity are some great options 🕯

Go hiking and swimming 🏊‍♂️ definitely recommend hiking in the woods and visiting your local beach around this time of year 🌳

Cleanse and bless your house 🏡 I like to cleanse before the sabbat and then bless during the end of the sabbat when all the good energies have accumulated. 🧹

Make a wicker man 👒Create a poppet and write all the bad habits you have on it. Toss the popper into the fire and watch those bad habits go away🪆

Go berry picking 🫐Blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries are coming into season. You can use these berries to make jam or baked goods🍓

Take a bath🧼 Add salts, herbs, oils, and flowers if you want. I love to bathe the day before every sabbat so I can soak up the energies🛁

Wear nice clothes, do your hair and makeup, and paint your nails in the colours of lughnasadh 💅I love having an all out spa day and makeover. Of course if you don’t care for hair, makeup, and nails you don’t have to🧖‍♀️

Make a corn dolly🌽 Another classic lughnasadh activity! These dolls make excellent decorations and are a symbol of the harvest👒

Remember the following:

Home is wherever you make it, you are not bound to a single place, person, or time

Go barefoot, enjoy the feeling of nature against your skin

Dance in the rain, let the water kiss your face and laugh as the thunder rumbles back

Collect bones, stones, sticks, leaves, collect what nature has left as gifts and hoard them

Don't be afraid, you were put in this realm for a reason and live your life as YOU see fit

Don't push yourself to fit to humans' standards, you are you and you are perfect

Keep your eyes open, yes, all of them, to see what others outside of this realm may show you

Be proud and lift your head up high, keep your wings up high, ears pointed, fins unfurled, whatever you have, be proud

Embrace change, embrace yourself

Keep friends close, keep plants closer

all of us who have already gotten used to 2020’s fuckery: