#wiccablr

It's August, So Let's

rub tomato leaves on our wrists like perfume samples; beg the waves to lick sand from our toes; weave wild poppies into our late-summer grief; leave the bedroom window cracked; feel the cool cling to our skin like a second sheet; overstay the evening, where the sun drapes heavy and sweet; listen to the frogs in the drainage ditch - a song that, every year, we wish we knew by heart.

For the spiritual folks out there, cinnamon is one of the most common spices used in spellwork. A powerful, versatile ally with it's warmth and high vibrations. It lends an extra kick to any spell or manifestation.

Element: Fire

Planet: Sun

Energy: Active, warming, fast-acting

Abundance: Cinnamon can be used in luck or abundance spells when you need to draw in money or just plain luck. Got a job interview? Cinnamon helps manifest success and prosperity.

Speed: add cinnamon to any herbal mixture or charm to help your other intentions manifest faster

Protection & Cleansing: ever feel like the energy around you is heavy or stale? Need a pep in your step? A fresh start? Cinnamon's got you. Just burn or simmer cinnamon to get rid of the bad vibes and protect your desired space

Love & Lust: Cinnamon has a long history of being a traditional aphrodisiac making it a great spice for love and lust spells

Here's a few ideas of what to do to practice your craft in the middle of summer, whether you're on holidays or sweating it at the office....

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🌞 Solar witches: meditate and charge your energy in the sunlight. This is my most important advice: the sun has many magical properties which you must store inside of you for the darker months ahead.

🌿 Green witches: use the sun to dry fresh herbs and plants. You can either lay them out outside or hang them in your ceiling. Take the opportunity of the warm temperatures to store as much as you can for your future spells.

🌊 Sea witches: spend as much time in water as possible. The ocean, lakes, pools, your bathtub if need be. August is a time for a pause and intuition, to think about what comes next in your life and in the year. Water is perfect for such work.

🎀 Cottage witches: if you can, host a bonfire night. Bring your closest friends and sit around the flames, to think about what you need, to whisper your biggest dreams and aspirations to the spirits, to conjure them into existence.

🔮 Divination witches: look for shapes and patterns in your tea and your bread. This is an old folk practice I particularly love this time of year, especially near the Lammas festival. Divination using tea leaves or grains are particularly strong right now.

🐈‍⬛ Shadow witches: escape the sunlight and connect with the moon instead. If you can be there for the solar eclipse on August 12th, 2026, that's even better - you'll do your best work that night.

"I'm not feeling strong yet, but I am taking good care of myself. The weather is perfect. I read and walk all day and then walk to the sea. I expect to swim soon. For now I am content. I am not sure what I hope for. I feel I am doing my best. It reminds me when I was sixteen dreaming of Locca, the gentle trees outside and the creek. Perhaps poetry replaces something in me that others receive more naturally. Perhaps my happiness proves a weakness in my life. Even my failures in poetry please me. Time is very different here. It is very good to be away from public ambition. I sweep and wash, cook and shop. Sometimes I go into town in the evening and have pastry with custard. Sometimes, I sit at a table and drink half a beer."

Abundance isn't defined as having material resources beyond our needs. It's a state of mind that lets us free ourselves from the fear of lacking, in order to reach a calmer state of awareness. When we embrace the principle of abundance, it becomes easier to let go and to share, both materially and emotionally.

What you'll need

Lavender: 2 to 4 flowers on stems

Basil: about 1 bunch (30 g)

Thyme: about 1 bunch (30 g)

String color: natural or brown

Making it

Using all the plants together, make a bundle

Set it out to dry

Finish your smudge stick

Consecrate your smudge stick by lighting it up

Choosing the plants

"Later, after I married and had a child, I learned to find... meaning in the repeated rituals of domestic life. Setting the table. Lighting the candles. Building the fire. Cooking. All those soufflés, all that creme caramel, all those daubes and albondigas and gumbos. Clean sheets, stacks of clean towels, hurricane lamps for storms, enough water and food to see us through whatever geological event came our way. These fragments I have shored against my ruins, were the words that came to mind then. These fragments mattered to me. I believed in them."