#hagging out

Mugwort Rose Elixir - Hagging Out

Packing up to head to my last ever Dead & Co. show but have a few minutes for a mini hag out.

My mugwort is having its most prolific season ever so I want to use it in everything, and the roses are old fashioned tea roses so they actually smell rosy. I’m infusing them in brandy, and later I’ll add honey, which is what makes this an elixir and not just a tincture.

Besides being a very effective dream herb, mugwort has some analgesic qualities, and is especially good for period cramps and to bring on menses. It’s not an herb for pregnant folks, because it’s also an abortifacient.

I paired it with roses just on intuition; rose is soft and sensual; sort of the Aphrodite of the plant world. Mugwort is hidden knowledge and liminal spaces, maybe akin to Hekate, though of course it’s an herb of Artemis. I just liked the juxtaposition.

Hagging Out May — Dandelion Salve

Disclaimer: some of the pictures are from a couple years ago.

Well, after several infusion experiments didn’t turn out I turned to a trusty recipe that I’ve done before but hadn’t ever published for hagging out.

Luckily, though dandelions aren’t as plentiful as they are earlier in the spring, I found enough for the recipe.

I infused the dandelions in oil for about a week and a half and then followed the above recipe.

I love the feel of this salve on my chapped lips and dry skin and also use it for anointments in Kupala rituals.

"Infusions"

Not so much an infusion, more of a base: my newly collected rain plus storm water of this spring season.

@graveyarddirt

So I actually managed to celebrate both Hexennacht AND May Day/Beltane this year! Go me!

So I spent the 29th 30th and 1st completely Witch faced high, lol

I got a shit load done, I did some cleaning, smacking out a lot of dead/shitty energy,

Combining that with a road opening and shit ton of blessing work,

I also thoroughly gave Offerings, April was such a fuck awful month I wanted to forcibly shove it out the door and lock the door behind it, I was so tired I was actually dreading Hexennacht this year cause I hadn't had time or energy to really plan anything or set things up well,

But somehow *cough* cannabis *cough* I became a fucking whirlwind and got everything done, and had a fucking blast,

I have to make do with a candle on my bedroom floor as a fire, but frankly it works just as well as when I was able to do outdoor rituals when we first moved here,

This was my second year with my Mighty Steed and Snakey Wand,

Though I've had that Steed since I was a little girl, you ever have something from before you started a magic path and one day go 'oh hey', that was me with that horse head cane,

See as a kiddling I fucking love collecting two things, rocks and sticks, I had a whole area in my basement 'playroom' (it was half done fucking dungeon, cause my father never finished shit, and it creeped me the holy hell out, but it was where I kept my sticks,) I had em all nicely sorted,

Anyway this gave me an appreciation for walking sticks and canes, my ma had her uncle's old cane I was always trying to play with, but dude was a big fucker, and cane was good deal bigger then me and ma knew I'd never grow into it like I'd been hoping, she found this horse head cane the head snapped and therefore adorable for her, she grabbed it up and brought it home to me, with plans to fix it up I was delighted I spent hours sitting in her closet rubbing my little hands over it,

Ma never was able to fix it up, but surprisingly through all the moves, and that time we asked my sister if she could store some of our stuff and she agreed and then went through it all and tossed and sold most of it,

Horse somehow made it, and I'd been keeping it in my closet,

Also funny enough I grew into it almost perfectly,

I realized a couple years ago while trying to come up with a Sabbat Steed that uh hello I had a perfect one sitting patiently waiting for me to get my shit together, lol,

So I before even fixing the head, started working it, cleaned it up nice, put the pieces near me while sleeping on Sabbat nights, bring it into circle, ect. Last year I finally put the dear together enchanted and Named horse, and off to the Sabbat we went, with my new snake wand tagging along,

And so we flew again this year!

May 1st is also my great aunt who raised my ma's birthday, I never got to meet her but I owe her my existence so I went to put a Coke can (her fav) out for her when I got a shock of a 'welo don't put the whole damn can down' so instead I shared a can with my great aunt for her birthday,

Woo! Welcome to my first hagging out participation. Hagging out has been on my radar since I turned 30 in October. I had actually first heard of it only after I was eligible to participate. But I wasn’t really feeling the prompt, and then it wasn’t on the forefront of my mind so I completely forgot about it (thanks ADHD). Anyhoo, I get home on Friday, already planning on making an infused gin and what is the first post I see on tumblr? This month’s prompt of throwing shit in a jar for an infusion. Well that’s a few too many stars aligning to ignore. So please enjoy the pictures of my Strawberry Gin!

he ingredients, super simple. Just some fresh strawberries and a midtier gin. I almost did blueberries instead, but strawberries were a bit cheaper.

Cut those suckers up. I did quarters because reasons.

The berries came up higher than I intended but whatever. Just cover them up, seal it up and wait.

I’m probably going to let them sit for at least a week, but haven’t gotten that far yet. After just a day, the strawberries lost most of their color and are this lovely blush pink. I love the bleaching effect that happens. I’ll take a picture when I get home.

Was this made to be magical? Nope, I just wanted a tasty drink. BUT both strawberries and gin have magical correspondences that I can’t begin to remember right now. So maybe down the line this will have a purpose. Or maybe it’ll just be a cocktail.

Hagging Out December: Twelfth Night for the Wild Hunt

For several years now I have honoured the Wild Hunt - the fierce spirits who hunt evildoers across the worlds. In my practice I consider Wōden as leader of the Hunt, and with Him at their head they ride throughout the dark half of the year, with their activity reaching a head during the liminal time between the Winter Solstice and Twelfth Night.

During this time I try to observe nightly devotionals and contemplation, culminating in ritual on Twelfth Night itself.

This year I offered loose-leaf berry and rosebud tea, its redness recalling the blood of the Hunt's prey. Offerings to the Hunt are both propitiatory, to encourage them to leave me and mine unharmed, and in thanks for the work they do to punish and destroy evil.

As part of my ritual, I recited rounds of my Wōden prayer beads, nine times nine heiti of the Old Man. This led me into trance and deep communion with Him and with the spirits of the Hunt. It also seemed an auspicious time both for some rune-casting divination for the year ahead, and for a spot of old-fashioned blasting with the aid of my blackthorn athame.

This calls to an end both the time of the Hunt's greatest activity, and the most important phase of my two-month Gēol season.

September’s “hagging out” is about foraging, which is the only kind of plant work I can do. (I’m probably wanted for war crimes against seeds by now.)