Botanical Witchling

For getting rid of stubborn ex-lovers, or would-be suitors who don’t understand the meaning of “no.” Counters Come Hither Powder, should the need arise.

Ingredients:

1 pt Pistachio Shells

1 pt Lime Peel

1 pt Cinnamon

½ pt Lemon Verbena

½ pt Black Pepper

½ pt Witch Hazel

3 crushed Chili Pepper seeds per ½ cup batch (any sort will do)

Optional: If the lover in question was attracted by magic, add ½ part Turmeric.

Materials:

Mortar & Pestle or Spice Grinder

Funnel

Mesh Strainer

Collection Dish

Container

Note: Powdered versions of most herbs are available online. I recommend such sites as Starwest Botanicals and Penn Herbs for the quality products at reasonable prices. Also, if you can get your hands on a good spice grinder, you can make your own powder from dried herb products.

Grind each ingredient separately for several minutes to produce fine powder. Sieve the material through the mesh strainer into the collection dish; this removes the larger ungrindable pieces and gives you cleaner powdered herb. (Pro-Tip: Putting a funnel under the strainer helps reduce lost material.)

For the Pistachio Shells, retain the leftover large pieces that don’t make it through the strainer. You can use this for loose incense or charm bags later. Remember, witchlings: waste not, want not!

Combine the component powders in the collection dish, mix well, and bottle immediately.

To rid yourself of a persistent ex, bind up three generous pinches in brown paper upon which is written your ex-lover’s name, tie with black string, and bury the packet under a flat stone somewhere off your property. If you can do so under a thorny bush or shrub, so much the better.

If your problem is harassment at school or in the workplace or a social setting, carry a small packet or bottle of the powder with you, or sprinkle several pinches where you know the person is certain to walk over it. To sever the attachment and put an end to things, dust your hands with the powder and firmly shake hands with the target while saying goodbye in some fashion. (Make sure it’s “goodbye” or “farewell,” not “see you later” or the like. Do not wash your hands until after the handshake.)

If your problem is unwanted attention at your home, sprinkle three pinches at each corner of your property, then mix a spoonful of the powder with 2 cups of vinegar and use it to wash your doorstep.

Note: Remember always that magic is no substitute for practical action. If you are being harassed or if you feel you are in any way endangered, contact the authorities or your local emergency hotline, and take all practical measure to ensure your personal safety.

[Image: On a gray wooden porch sits a brown coir door mat reading “GO AWAY” in black block letters.]

For more recipes to fill out your potion kit, you can check out Pestlework: A Book of Magical Powders & Oils. (Available on Amazon and in my shop!)

The Fate, watercolour gouache on pencil strokes, signed, by C. Schwabe

10.43 x 6.3 in.

This is something that sits on my altar that I bury before the next sabbat. This year I actually made this for both Mabon and Samhain as a combined holiday spell.

You will need:

1 corked bottle (or some type of jar you can seal) ground rose petals (protection, love) ground sage (wisdom, protection, remembrance) dried rosemary (purification, remembrance)dried catnip (love, happiness) dried thyme (courage, strength) whole allspice berries (money, luck) dried corn kernels (luck, prosperity, abundance) dried beans (creativity, communication, offering to the dead) dried peas (offering to the dead) dried cranberries (protection) whole hazelnuts (with the shells) (luck, wisdom) whole acorns (found on the ground) (prosperity, wealth, creativity) dried chamomile flowers (money, peace, love, purification) dried brightly colored leaves I put the ingredients into the bottle in the order listed.  For the larger ingredients, I put 3, 9, or 13 depending on how it “feels”–these numbers have some kind of magical significance.

For everything we do here, please be sure to be careful with what you edit, and restart your computer to lock things in. If you don't have access to the Group editor, (likely to happen if you're on base windows) you can do this as well by opening your Registry Editor app, then inputting this after your 'computer' or whatever the initial segment is. (Mine is computer. If I just try and paste the below string it gets SO mad at me)

\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsCopilot

Navigating to your "turnoffwindowscopilot", hit modify, and set the value data to 1.

If done correctly, it'll look like this.

While we're at it, you can also get rid of the integrated search, (or that thing where it searches the web when you search anything, whether or not you want it to) and such through regedit as well.

Integrated search will have you going to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer

Navigate to your "DisableSearchBoxSuggestions" bit, if you don't see it, you can make it by right clicking and creating a new registry D-Word key of that exact name. Edit the key, set it to 1. It'll look like this if you do it right!

To get rid of Windows Spotlight, (The thing where it pulls up ten billion pages on windows start page, shoving ads in your face and cluttering everything) we go to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DesktopSpotlight\Settings

And set "Enabled State" To 0. If you do it right, it'll look like this!

Disabling edge on startup will also help a fair deal with processing speed and the like. This you can do in all sorts of ways, the easiest being turning it off entirely on startup through settings in the like.

If you want to kill it *entirely*, though? :)

In regedit, run along to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft

Navigate to your MicrosoftEdge key subcategory. If you don't see it, you can make one! Note, this is a KEY, not a d-word. *inside* that subcategory, we want to either make or find the D-Word key of PreventLaunchEdge and set that to 1 in the same way as all the others. It'll look like this.

Aaaand while we're here, I'd HIGHLY recommend shanking Killer Networking Services. It's just bloatware. (Ostensibly it's supposed to monitor your network bandwidth and even things out, but that really means it's constantly monitoring and pinging things, which eats up the bandwidth you DO get, and also chunks your computer's processing power.) Getting rid of it entirely is borderline impossible, since it's set to redownload on regular updates and intel is very pushy with its updates.

This you can do by opening your Services.msc, which basically shows you all the background stuff that Windows does. Find Anything with Killer in the name, right click it, go to properties, and disable startup. It should look like this, if done successfully. It will probably reenable itself in time/in later updates for windows, but it's a quick fix. I'd also check your TaskScheduler app to make sure that nothing's scheduled to open up there, either.

If you CAN completely kill Killer services through uninstalling and the like, I would warn that at very least for my computer, the only ethernet/lan support applications that are available ARE Killer's. When you download updates, you really do have to do it manually and ONLY download the ethernet services, or just be cool with not having Lan functionality.

One last thing, not a shit application but is a shit service. If your computer's constantly overheating or just warm, you likely have Turboboost enabled. (Default setting that you can't change) If you want to be able to turn it off and drop your temps by like 40 degrees, in Regedit go to

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings\54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00\be337238-0d82-4146-a960-4f3749d470c7

(Note- This isn't the string copy paste from the reddit thread, this is mine that does the same thing. If my string doesn't work for you, check the reddit thread string. If that doesn't work either, you can follow the path and find it pretty easily. Probably has like, one letter of difference somewhere. The bits all start the same, though, so it's easy to find.)

and go to "attributes". Set the value from 1 to 2, and now in your advanced Power Plan settings in control panel, you'll be able to *see* turbo boost and turn it off.

It'll look like this, and in power options, a successful disabling of boost should look like this.

Turning off quick startup's also a good call, since that basically stops your restarts from actually shutting things down properly.

Grab your canning supplies and your favorite cider mug - it’s time for the Harvest Moon!

Harvest Moon

The Harvest Moon is the name given to the full moon which occurs closest to the autumnal equinox. It does not matter whether the moon occurs before or after the equinox or in which month it falls. This year, the Harvest Moon falls in October, by a VERY narrow margin! (When the Harvest Moon falls in September, the October moon will then be the Hunter's Moon.)

The October Harvest Moon will be at peak illumination on Monday, October 6th at 11:47pm EST, rising big and bright in the midnight sky. What's more, this month's full moon is the first of three supermoons occurring in the last few months of 2025!

North American indigenous names for the October moon include Falling Leaves Moon (Anishinaabe), Freezing Moon (Ojibwe), Migrating Moon (Cree), and Big Wind Moon (Zuni). In several modern pagan traditions, the October moon is called the Sanguine or Blood Moon due to its’ with the association with the hunt and with alleged sacrifices made ahead of the coming winter. (Keep in mind that any claims about What The Druids Did should be taken with a grain of salt, as they did not keep written records of their ceremonies.)

What Does It Mean For Witches?

October is a time to finish our harvests. We gather in the last of what we sowed earlier in the year and reflect on what our work has wrought and what our labor has produced. It is also a time of transition as the weather begins to shift more noticeably toward the chill of winter. Shore up whatever provisions you need for the immediate future and complete whatever preparations you’ve been making for the cold season, both magical and practical. A little weatherproofing goes a long way!

This is also the month when numerous Western cultures remember their honored dead and a time when some believe that contact with various unseen realms is more easily accomplished. If you’re seeking advice or reassurance from the greater beyond, or looking to do some planning or forecasting for the coming year, now might be the optimal time to do it.

What Witchy Things Can We Do?

Put out your moon jars for the supermoon! If you haven't made one before, a simple version can be found here. Take a moment to think about the lessons you've learned this year and how your beliefs and understanding have changed.

Celebrate the end of the harvest season with your favorite recipes! Bust out that hearty stew or delicious pie you’ve been dying to make but kept putting off during the hot months. Use local produce to make something special and gather in the last fruits of your garden. Make a little extra to share with friends and neighbors to help strengthen those community bonds, or donate to a local food pantry or shelter. Fresh goods are always appreciated!

Participate in the harvest yourself! Whether it’s an actual seasonal pick-your-own at a farm or orchard, or a trip to the farmer's market or your local witchy shop, make the most of what's available to you. Make one more trip for wildcrafted plants before everything turns brown and brittle. Put up dry goods in your pantry, try making preserves or freeze meat and veggies for later. (Fun Fact: Many soups and stews can be frozen in portion sizes for up to six months!)

Prepare for the cold months! Switch out your wardrobe, heap those blankets on the bed, change the decor to something autumnal, and make sure your home and vehicle are ready for winter. If you do any seasonal crafts or fibre arts, start pulling out your accoutrements.

Get your divination game on! Many October party games include fortune-telling aspects for love or marriage or professional prospects. Choose your favorite method and see what it has to tell you about the coming year and where your current path may lead. Remember that the choices we make change the path and therefore the outcome, so try to regard the results as written in sand rather than stone.

Shed your metaphorical skin one more time. Examine what you carry in your heart and where your priorities lie. If there is anything left that weighs you down or no longer serves you or disrupts your life unnecessarily, prune it away and let it go. This process is not always comfortable and may leave you feeling raw, but sometimes hard decisions must be made. You are not meant to be in perpetual motion or constant production. Give yourself permission to rest.

Consider also the parts of yourself that you don’t always like. Is there value in the struggle to deny them and push them away? Is there anything that might serve you better if it was embraced rather than denied? So often we speak of letting things go and laying down burdens in order to progress. But there is also power in remembrance, in anger, in spite, in grief, in ambition. Remember that while you should forgive yourself for past mistakes and learn from them, you are not required to do the same for others.

Remember also that setting boundaries is healthy and that if they are not respected, you are within your rights to remind others than actions have consequences. Protecting yourself is not always pretty and it is not always polite. And it doesn’t have to be

Happy Harvest Moon, witches! 🌕🎃

Further Reading:

2025 Witches' Calendar

Additional Lunar Calendar posts

Secular Celebrations - Samhain

October 2025 Full Moon: Harvest Moon is the Largest and Brightest Supermoon of the Year, The Old Farmer’s Almanac.

What Is The Harvest Moon?, The Old Farmer’s Almanac.

Harvest Moon 2025: The Spiritual Meaning of the October Full Moon, The Peculiar Brunette.

Full Moon Wish Jar, Bree NicGarran.

Witchcraft Exercise - The Book of Lessons, Bree NicGarran.

Witchcraft Exercise - Quantifying Your Craft, Bree NicGarran.

Autumn Recipe Roundup in Review, Bree NicGarran.

Everyday Moon Magic: Spells & Rituals for Abundant Living, Dorothy Morrison, Llewellyn Publications, 2004.

Image Credit - Darkfoxelixir on Shutterstock.

I'll start: