Pagany Things

favourite adaptations ● Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

One of the first spells I wrote, worked like a charm - specifically, it made their feet hurt a lot less!

What you’ll need:

3 candles - I used white, white, and pink

Amulet (consecrated) - I used a keyring they carry in their pocket

As you light each candle, pass the amulet over each flame and say:

First candle (white): “To protect them from harm.”

Second candle (pink): “To protect them from stress.”

Third candle (white): “To protect them from illness.”

Pick up the item and rest it on your heart for a moment, visualizing pouring protective love into the amulet. Then, place it in the center of your altar. Murmur the following 3 times:

“My my love keep this charm to protect them from that what would do them harm.

Cast off ill and let evil be seen.

As my will, so mote it be.”

1. FINISH WHAT YOU ARE DOING.

► DO NOT walk away from an uncompleted ritual

► DO NOT walk away in the middle of a spell

Grab your notes and close everything down. Dismiss any spirits or entities you are working with. Close down the circle. End the ritual. Diffuse the energy of the spell and close it down. If you were enchanting an item, announce over it that it is closed and nothing more may come in or out.

Spells and rituals are little portals of power; if you leave one open without closing it, all sorts of things could get screwy and come through.

2. End any spooky/witchy atmosphere immediately.

Blow out all the candles.

Put out all the incense.

Turn on all the lights.

Turn off spooky chanting music. Turn on some happy music or better yet, a non-supernatural television show or movie you love.

If you were enchanting an item, immediately put it in salt.

3. Don’t destroy the items/notes you will need later.

Trust me, do not throw away the spell you wrote or the objects you were working on. If things go wrong in the future you will need these to fix the problem.

► Immediately write down exactly what happened. Write down every deviation from the spell that you did. Write down exactly what you said and saw during any visualizations. Write down exactly when things started to get freaky.

► If you were enchanting an item, keep it in a black bag filled with salt until you are ready to deal with it.

4. Cleanse.

Use an energy cannonball to purify the space you were working in. Burn rosemary and bay leaves to fumigate the area, or spritz a premade water solution if you can’t have smoke. Pay special attention to all ritual tools.

If you feel the need to, cleanse yourself by visualizing the power of the smoke enveloping you and driving away any bad vibes; or take a shower if you really feel something has gone wrong.

5. Get out of the area you were working in.

Go to another room. Leave the house if possible. Seek the company of others or turn on the television if you are alone.

6. Do mundane things for a while.

Eat a nice meal. Drink a big glass of water. Go for a jog. Do some chores. Put anything magical totally out of your head. Absolutely do not focus on how weird things just got.

7. When you are ready, return to the area you were working in.

Relax yourself and judge the energies within the room. Are things still ‘creepy’? A heavy-duty cleansing is in order. Do you feel as if someone else is there? Open a window and command it to leave - if it does not, more fumigation or a banishing is required.

Judge your ritual tools and determine if they will need additional cleansing. If you were working on an object, determine if it has been corrupted or if anything is wrong with it. If so, put it back in the salt and deal with it as soon as you can.

8. Take a break from witchcraft for a couple of days.

9. Figure out what went wrong.

Fear is never a good thing. There is a difference between embracing the darkness and being afraid.

► Fear can be caused if an entity showed up you were unprepared to deal with.

► Fear can be caused if your intuition (or perhaps a spirit ally) was warning you that what you were about to do was a really bad idea.

► Fear can be caused if you tap in to powers that overwhelm you.

Yule Goat

Witchy Ball

Magical Gingerbread Poppets

Handmade Yule Ornaments: Dried Oranges

Pine Cone and Felt Gnome Yule Ornament

Toadstool Ornaments

Cashmere and Herb Heart

Winter Nights Incense

Yule Simmering Potpourri

Winter Solstice Oil

Witchbane’s How to Grow Plants (like a Boss)

From Clippings

Here’s a quick and easy tutorial for growing new plants from clippings! It’s not as hard as you might think…

This tutorial works best for herbs & plants that grow like bushes- it doesn’t work for all herbs but what’s the harm in trying?

Step One: Materials

A small jar (I used a jam jar)

Honey

Scissors

A mature plant (one that’s been in a stable planting environment for most of a season) - I’m using Rosemary

Water (not shown)

Step Two: Cutting!

When you cut bunches off with your scissors make sure that you’re cutting close (but not on) the main stem of the plant.

Give your cuts an a-cuuuuute angle so that it’s easier for them to drink water without their mamma plant

You also might wanna make sure they have a few friends to keep them company c:

Step Three: Honey

Dip the tips of all the plants in the honey- it’s like using growth hormones but natural & your new baby plants will love you for it

Step Four: Rooting

Time to go swimming! Just kidding- your plants don’t know how to swim. Yet. So make sure that when you do place them in a jar of water you fill it up so that the roots are the only thing submerged.

Step Five: Place in a Sunny Spot

The last little thing? Simple! Just place your little babies in a window so that they have plenty of light & wait a few weeks (+) when their roots are an inch or so, before planting.

Make sure that you change the water about once a week or so, that way your plants are less likely to get sick from bad water.

That’s it! Simple right?

Hope this helps anyone who might have been curious about growing herbs- I’ll try to post an update on my current baby plant here in a few weeks (I hope he survives- I took forever with the photos). Feel free to ask if you have questions.

Much love-

Once again, I was planning to go ahead and give a recipe for some incense that I find useful in my personal ritual work, but then I realized that many people probably don’t know how to make their own! Making your own incense is enjoyable and fun, and when you know what herbs are safe and which ones aren’t to burn, you can experiment. When doing spell work, or any ritual work really, the proper incense can help to strengthen whatever you are working on. I’ve gathered the basic steps for making your own incense from Scents of Earth. 

Natural Incense Making

determine the type of incense you’ll make

determine how you will heat your incense

gather tools

gather ingredients

pulverize ingredients (or use powders)

mix ingredients

perhaps a drying or curing time

heat ingredients

ahh…enjoy!

What “type” of incense will you make?

combustible incense - used when forming your mixtures into cones or sticks by adding a binding material and a combustible material directly to the incense mixture (no reported explosions yet!). One end is lit, the flame then fanned out, allowing it to burn continuously by themselves. This incense is more difficult to make but easier to burn. Makes traveling with incense easy.

non-combustible incense (incense of the ancients) - “loose incense” (just the ingredients themselves, after grinding and mixing) or “incense pellets” (loose incense where soft resins, balsams, raisins or dried fruits and honey have been added to form pea sized “pellets”). This incense is heated using charcoal, makko or on mica atop charcoal. This is the easiest method of mixing incense but requires just a few more steps and utensils to burn.

How will you heat your incense?

If you are making cones or sticks then burning your incense is straight forward and simple; you light one end of the cone or stick, fan out the flame and allow it to slowly burn of its own accord. Note: In some cultures it is considered disrespectful to all that is nature to “blow” out the flame.

If you are burning loose incense mixtures or incense pellets, then you’ll need charcoal or makko to heat your mixtures.

If you are burning incense outdoors; individual ingredients, loose mixtures and incense pellets can be placed directly in a small campfire (best when there are just glowing coals remaining, no flame) or on a hot rock on the outer rim of a campfire, etc.

Incense burning vessel

- varies by the “type” of incense you will be burning

non-combustible incense (loose ingredients or pellets):  usually a cup, bowl or saucer shaped vessel filled with ash or sand is ideal (can be made of wood, metal or pottery). Large sea shells, such as abalone, work well too.  

combustible incense (cones, sticks, coils):  again a cup, bowl, saucer or shell shaped vessel works well or one of the infinite number of specialty holders designed for this type of incense works great as well.

We encourage you to choose an incense burner that is handmade or perhaps even enjoy making one yourself. There is an energy to a handmade burner that cannot be put into words, it blends perfectly with the burning of natural incense. This “union” seems to be missing, even reversed with a mass produced incense burner.

Note: We have found that using a cup or bowl shaped incense burner filled with ash is the most versatile way to burn incense. It allows for every style of burning that we know of and the burning of every type of incense except coils, though with a little imagination one could probably work that out as well.   The incense burner is most versatile when filled with ash (allows for burying charcoals koh doh style as well as  using makko), the ash most often used is white rice ash. You can also use sand or pulverized lava rock in these incense burners as an alternative.

Styles of burning non-combustible incense

Lets look at three ancient methods for burning “loose incense” or “incense pellets”:

Charcoal - here we light a piece of bamboo charcoal (without saltpeter or other toxic chemical additives!) and set it in the center of our bowl filled with ash or sand. We sprinkle our incense mixture directly on top of the charcoal or right next to it. The charcoal heats the materials and releases their fragrance into the air. This has probably been the most common method of burning incense throughout history.

Makko - makko is a natural combustible bark  from the Tabu-no-ki tree, which grows in parts of Asia. It is a powdered material that burns slowly but with high heat. An indentation is made in the ash using an ash press then the trail is filled with makko powder and compacted slightly using the ash press again (any small form that will make a one way path in the makko makes a fine ash press).

Mica here we use the charcoal method of heating our incense ingredients but with the addition of a small mica plate placed either on top of the charcoal or we bury the charcoal in a cone-shaped mound of ash by using a flat butter knife or incense utensil. A vent hole is poked from the top of the mound of ash down to the charcoal and the mica is then placed on top of the hole and mound of ash. We then sprinkle a small amount of our incense on top of the mica plate and allow the mica to heat up and release the fragrances of our incense materials. This method will produce very little smoke yet still fill the room with rich fragrance.  This method originates from Japan and is used for during their Koh doh and Kumiko ceremonies.

Note: We burn our own loose incense mixtures using mostly the mica or makko methods. After use, the ash can be sifted to remove any incense ingredients that may have spilled into it. Unburned pieces can be reused.

Note: Using saltpeter as an oxidizer is a common ingredient in many charcoals sold today. Saltpeter on today’s market is either sodium nitrate or potassium nitrate, both of these are toxic chemicals and warn against inhalation. We recommend using bamboo charcoal or makko to burn your incense. A good way to tell if your charcoal has saltpeter in it is to see if it crackles when lit, if it does it most probably contains saltpeter.

Tools / Supplies

incense burner - filled with ash or sand

natural incense ingredients - resins, woods and herbs

bamboo charcoal or makko powder - makko is needed if making cones or sticks or for burning loose incense on top of makko

tweezers - to hold charcoal while lighting it

mica - if using this style of incense burning (mica on top of charcoal)

mortar & pestle / coffee grinder - to pulverize our ingredients into powders or you can omit this by starting with powdered substances - (however the freshest ingredients are obtained if you pulverize them yourself).

distilled water or fragrant hydrosols - needed if making cones or sticks

2 mixing bowls or food grade plastic bags - to hold our pulverized ingredients until final mixing

gram scale, measuring cup or spoons - to measure the ingredients in our recipes

drying cloth or wax paper - for drying some recipes

stirring spoon

lighter or candle

notebook - to record your recipes

food processor - optional

Mixing Ingredients - Making Loose Incense

If you are not starting with powdered ingredients then of course you must pulverize them using a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder. Electric coffee grinders produce too much heat, allowing for the loss of vital chemicals from our ingredients and therefore should not be used. Also, most resins will break the blades of electric coffee grinders. If you are not making cones or sticks, then you do not need to break down the ingredients into an ultra fine powder; small granule size is good enough.

If you freeze your resins for a short while (1/4 hour or so), they will be much easier to pulverize. Woods are more difficult to pulverize with a mortar and pestle and may require some work before a fine powder if achieved. A hand crank coffee grinder may be your best choice.

If you are just starting out making incense mixtures then you should keep the number of ingredients down to three (3) to begin with, perhaps one wood and two herbs, or one resin, one wood and one herb, etc. As you get used to making incense you can slowly expand the number of ingredients you use.

So the first step is to choose the recipe you will use and gather the ingredients needed.

We recommend pulverizing your ingredients by “class” by grinding woods first, then herbs and saving the resins for last. Resins, if young and soft, will make a mess of your grinder or mortar and saving it for last allows you to proceed and not have to clean the grinder until you are completely finished. We measure each ingredient in our recipe before grinding, then keep one bowl for all our dry ingredients and another for all our resins.

Mix all your dry ingredients together first (herbs & woods), separately mix all your resins together then add your resins mixture to your dry mixture and mix together thoroughly with a stirring spoon. We like to throw the completed mixture into our mortar and pestle again and grind it all together one last time to help blend the aroma of each ingredient into the others..

Congratulations! You now have a “loose non-combustible incense mixture” and are ready to enjoy the aromatic treasure you’ve just created. You can heat this mixture as it is over charcoal, on mica on top of charcoal, on mica on top of ash under which hot charcoal is buried, or on top of makko.

If you are making “incense pellets” or “incense cones or sticks” then you still have a little work to do.

Making Incense Pellets

It’s quite simple to make pellets from any loose incense mixture. They add a richer fragrance to any mixture and more dimension to your incense making.

There are many choices as to what you’ll use to bind your pellets. Many resins come in a pliable form permitting the “molding” of pellets. Labdanum is often used in recipes of Japan to form pellets, some called neriko, a recipe used in the fall and winter seasons as well as for tea ceremony. Simply combine all other ingredients first, then add them to the labdanum, or other pliable resin, and knead well. Dry these pellets in a ceramic jar with a lid for 2 - 3 weeks.

Dried fruit can also be used to make incense pellets. We commonly use sulfur-free, organic Sultana Raisins or dried Prunes, though we have a batch drying as we write this where we’ve used dried Apricots. Honey is also used in this process as a preservative for the dried fruit, and adds a delightful warm fragrance to a mixture. Honey itself can be used to form pellets from any dry mixture without the use of any fruit or pliable resins

We’ve found using about 1/2 - 3/4 of a cup of dried fruit for every 1 cup of loose incense mixture works well. We like to soak our dried fruit overnight in a heavy red wine before using. Once soaked overnight and drained, we add the fruit to our loose incense and use a food processor to blend this entire mixture together. If you do not wish to use a processor, then mix a small amount of fruit with a small amount of your mixture and mash it together with a mortar and pestle and continue this process until all of your mixture has pulverized fruit in it. Transfer the entire mixture to a mixing bowl and drizzle in about one teaspoon of pure honey for every 3/4 cup of dried fruit, knead this together very well. At this point you can either crumble the mixture with your hands and spread it out on a cotton cloth, cardboard, wooden board, wax paper, etc. and store it indoors, out of the sunlight, allowing it to dry. You can also form pea-sized balls with your hands and then spread them out to dry. Drying time can take 2-4 weeks depending on climate. The mixture should be turned daily for proper drying. Alternatively, you may also place your pellets in a ceramic jar with a lid and allow them to age for up to a year. In Japan, the ceramic jar is sometimes buried in the ground for up to a year.  This type of mixture can be burned on charcoal, mica over charcoal, or directly on makko.

Making Incense Cones and Sticks

Pulverizing your ingredients into a very, very fine powder is one of the keys to making cones or sticks that will burn properly. Follow the directions above for mixing ingredients as loose incense but grind everything to an ultra fine powder.

There are many ways to make cones and sticks, some people use gum arabic or tragacanth to bind their sticks or cones. They mix this with charcoal or saltpeter to gain combustion. As stated in our “styles of burning” section above, we recommend against the use of saltpeter or charcoals that contain saltpeter because it is a toxic substance.

We’re sure there are a myriad of other ways to form sticks and cones. We’ll share our own method with you, which is to use makko (a.k.a. tabu) to form incense cones and sticks. Our makko is made from the bark of the tabu-no-ki tree, which grows in Asia and is a natural combustible material that is also water soluble. When added to loose incense mixtures with a small amount of distilled water or hydrosol, makko allows for the forming of incense cones or sticks. Because it is water soluble, the exact amount of makko to add to a mixture depends on the humidity of your environment and the amount of resins and woods in your mixture. 

First we recommend letting your “loose incense mixture” sit at least overnight to allow the ingredients to “blend” together. Once aged a day or more you are then ready to add your makko and form the incense into whatever shapes you desire. We recommend testing a small amount of your mixture first.  You’ll need a mixing bowl, your hands and either distilled water or a fragrant hydrosol and some wax paper. If you have a mixture with no resins in it, then you will most likely need to add only between 10 - 25% of makko to your mixture. (i.e. If you use 4 tablespoons of loose mixture, try adding 1/2 - 1 tablespoon of makko). If you have resins in your mixture then you may need 25 - 80% makko in your mixture. You’ll have to play with this yourself to see what works with your particular mixture and in your particular climate. We highly recommend you record in a notebook the exact measurements of your recipes so you can recreate the ones that come our perfectly and adjust those that don’t.

queerlittlemermaid asked:​ I am curious, what is it exactly that you personally do for paper magic? Do you have any special papers or pens you use? Do you ever destroy the paper somehow, like burn it or put it in boiling water? I’m a big fan of paper magic and curious.

Paper magic in my practice is the use of my fountain pens and dip pens, colored inks or homemade inks, sigils, and a bit of origami and/or crafting. Something as simple as cleansing my Metropolitan with moon water to clean it, filling it with an ink of a color keyed to my purpose and spelling the pen and ink for the spell, and then drawing a sigil or writing an incantation or any number of things. A paper spell could be writing on slim strips of paper before curling the slips into little tubes and then hanging them from a hoop with other charms and stones perhaps as a protection chime or a baby mobile. I use origami if the spell is something I want to keep around and to remind me of the spell and therefore gain power and continue. I also like using tinctures, or simple herbal brews or even a steeped tea bag if I have one fitting for a spell, to soak paper in. I drop a slip of paper into the water to seep away the writing for a cleansing or I could soak a slip of paper, allow it to dry, and then write on it to imbue my spell with further intent. I prefer burning for banishing spells, but I certainly burn stuff. (I’ve always been a bit of a firebug, so burning shit gets pulled into my practice constantly.)

Book or literary magic is a term someone in the community suggested for a variation on pop culture magic. If you are familiar with pop culture magic then the concept of literary magic is pretty easy to grasp. Literary magic is the use of characters, magic systems, et cetera of books in one’s magic practice. I personally am slowly building up a system to use Charter Magic and to be a sort of Abhorsen. I also have a soft spot for Harry Potter (which I can’t link because there is a lot of non-spells in that tag) based spells.

Like/reblog this if you post: -paganism (beginner or otherwise) -witchcraft (beginner or otherwise) -wicca (beginner or otherwise) -tarot -crystals/stones -runes -sigils -fae -tips/info on any of these topics* -witch aesthetics -halloween aesthetics -other similar topics

Pumpkin Spice Bath Salts {Tutorial}

Essential oils are highly concentrated, volatile oils that can be extracted from aromatic plants. Their use dates back to ancient times, and their wide variety of therapeutic, medicinal, magickal, and culinary uses has ensured their continued popularity. About 700 different kinds of plants contain useful essential oils, and there are several methods employed to extract them, the most common of which is distillation. While essential oils can be very expensive to buy, they are relatively cheap to distill at home. This guide provides basic instructions on how to extract the oils using the relatively simple and effective water-and-steam distillation process.

1.) Obtain or build a still (the apparatus used for distilling). You can purchase one specially designed for distilling essential oils; these generally cost a couple hundred dollars or more, but if you plan on doing a lot of distilling and you’re not particularly mechanically inclined, this is probably the way to go. If you want to try building a still, you’ve got plenty of room for creativity - there are thousands of still designs, and even today, many stills are homemade. The key components of a still are:

The heat source or furnace, which is used to boil the water. Direct fire, a fire built under the retort is the oldest method for heating the still. Today, we can also use gas, such as propane or butane, and electricity. Fuel costs are a major factor when considering a heat source for you distiller;

The holding tank or retort, which holds both the water and, just above the water on a grate or false bottom - picture a vegetable steamer - the plant material to be distilled;

The condenser, which collects the steam and cools it, usually by piping it through a tube immersed in cold water, and…

The separator, which separates the essential oil from the water vapor. The separator, or Essencier, is one of the most important pieces of apparatus a distiller can have. This enables the distiller to separate the essential oils from the distillate in a passive manner.

2.) Harvest your raw material. The quantity of essential oils contained in a plant varies over the course of the plant’s development, so it is essential to harvest at the right time. This will depend on the type of plant, so you need to do some research to determine when to harvest. It is also critical to harvest the plants correctly - careless handling, harvesting the wrong parts, even harvesting at the wrong time of day can reduce the quantity and quality of the essential oils. Again, research the plant you wish to distill. If you’re buying harvested material, you don’t have much control over the harvesting process; look for plants that appear healthy and undamaged, and ask the seller when they were harvested. Generally plants that are in whole form (not crushed or powdered) are best.

3.) Dry the plant material. Drying reduces the amount of oil in each plant, but can greatly increase your yield per batch because you will be able to fit more material into each batch. Drying should be done slowly and NOT in direct sunlight. You can choose not to dry your plant material. Commercially grown plants such as lavender and peppermint may be allowed to dry in the field after cutting for a day or so. The ideal drying method varies from plant to plant, but in general you should not overheat the plants - drying in the shade or even in a dark room minimizes the oil lost - you should not over-dry them, and you must not allow the plants to become wet again before distillation. Distill as soon as possible after drying.

4.) Add water to the tank of your still. Use clean water, ideally filtered or distilled and as soft as possible. If you’re using a manufactured still, follow the manufacturer’s direction. Otherwise, simply make sure you have enough water in the still to complete the distillation; depending on the plant and on the quantity, distillation can take anywhere from a half-hour to six hours or more after the water boils. Be sure that the water level is close to, but not touching, the false bottom that will hold the plant material. If you are performing a hydrodistillation (this is useful for delicate flowers or powdered roots, bark or wood), you will need to have your plant material free floating IN the water.

5.) Add your plant material and pack it tightly in the still. You do not need to chop or cut the plant material, and doing so will cause you to lose some of the oils. The plant material should rest on the false bottom or grate above the water and should touch the sides of the still as little as possible. The layer of plant material can be quite thick as long as it is below the steam outlet (a couple inches below the outlet for a small still, a foot below for a large one).

6.) Close the still and boil the water. Most plants will release their essential oils at 100 degrees Celsius or 212 degrees Fahrenheit, the normal boiling point of water.

7.) Keep an eye on the still. After a while the distillate should begin to come through your condenser and into your separator. The process should be fairly hands-off, but you will want to ensure that you do not run out of water in your still. Depending on the length of the distillation process, you may also need to change the water in the condenser so that the cooling process continues to work. Follow the instructions for the particular plant you are distilling.

8.) Filter the collected oil (optional). Once your distillation is complete you may filter the oil through cheesecloth or similar dry cotton fabric. Ensure that the cloth is dry and clean - detergent residues as well as dirt can contaminate the oil.

9.) Pour the oil into a container for storage. Do this as quickly as possible. Most essential oils can be kept for at least two years, but some have extraordinary shelf lives. To maximize the useful life of your oil, keep it in a dark glass bottle or stainless steel container. Use a clean funnel to pour the oil into the container, and make sure the container is impeccably clean before pouring the oil into it. Store in a cool, dark place.

It’s been over a year since my last giveaway, so I think it’s about time for me to host another :) Click the images for a larger view.

Contents:

Silver crescent moon necklace with an amethyst crystal briolette

Blue flash labradorite pendant, handmade by me (chain included)

Rose quartz heart

Midnight goldstone star

Raw celestite crystal

Raw green calcite

Tumbled amethyst

Tumbled moonstone

One antique key from this lot: (see photo)

Corked glass bottle containing mixed gems (amethyst, carnelian, red garnet, sodalite, and quartz)

Rules and Qualification:

Reblog this post to enter the giveaway, that’s it!

Likes do not count, though it’s fine to like this to bookmark the post.

Please be courteous — don’t spam reblog. This will disqualify you.

Deleting or altering the text of this post will disqualify you.

You must be at least 18 years old to enter, as per tumblr guidlines.

Your ask box must be open for me to contact you, if you win.

You must be willing to give me a shipping address to send the prizes.

The winner must respond within 48 hours or another winner shall be chosen.

So I know that you’ve read these rules clearly, tag this post with “magicbunnies” when you reblog it. 

You don’t have to follow me, though it’s appreciated if you like my blog!

Other Info:

This giveaway ends on Friday August 22nd, 2014 at 11 pm EST.

The winner will be chosen at random with random.org for fairness — I will keep very close track of the notes.

The worth of this giveaway is about $55 USD.

I will pay for shipping expenses, including international shipping.

It’s okay to reblog this post more than once, but like I said, please don’t spam.

I’ll likely be including some surprise goodies as ideas come to me.

All of the crystals featured are natural and untreated, besides the sparkly goldstone.

Do you like the jewelry featured? You can view more of my work at my shop.

Yarrow Salve: Tutorial 

Lughnasadh Recipe: Cinnamon Braid Bread [x]

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup lukewarm milk

1 tbsp sugar

15 g fresh yeast (1 envelope active dry yeast)

1/8 cup (30 g) melted butter

1 egg yolk

Filling

1/4 cup (50 g) softened butter

4 or 5 tbsp sugar

3 tsp cinnamon

3 tsp grounded almonds or macadamias, optional

Directions

In a medium bowl stir yeast with sugar. Stir in the milk and then add the egg yolk and melted butter.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour and salt. Pour the milk mixture over the dry ingredients and start kneading it until it pulls away from the edges of the bowl. Give the dough the shape of a ball. Sprinkle oil onto a clean bowl, place the dough and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rest for about 1 hour at room temperature until doubled in size.

While the dough rises, whisk together the butter with sugar and cinnamon for the filling. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 400 F (200 C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

On a floured surface, using a rolling pin roll the dough to a rectangle of about 18x12 inches.

Spoon the cinnamon filling over top (keep about 1 tbsp of the filling for the end), spreading evenly, leaving a clean 1/2-inch border around the edges. Sprinkle the nuts over the cinnamon filling.

Roll up the dough and using a sharp knife, cut the log in half length-wise stopping 1/2 inch from one end to keep it together.

Twist the two pieces, keeping the open layers exposed so the cut ends remain on top..Pinch the ends together and form a wreath.

Transfer it to the prepared baking sheet. Brush the wreath with the left cinnamon filling.