Violet's Lavender Tea.
Ingredients:
(Makes 2 cups)
2 tablespoons of dried lavender flowers
2 cups boiling water
1 tablespoon of honey
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
Directions:
In a glass teapot put the dried flowers and pour the boiling water over the top
Allow to steep for a good 5 minutes
Strain prior to drinking
Then add the honey and lemon Juice.
Serve with freshly made scones glazed with vanilla frosting and garnished with sprinkles of lavender.
Savannah's Potato and Rosemary Bread.
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Yield: 1 loaf
What you'll need:
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon of dried rosemary
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 Tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
½ cup diced onion
1 package (1/4 ounce or 2-1/2 teaspoons) dry granulated yeast
1/4 cup warm water
2 cups mashed potatoes
4 to 4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 additional teaspoon butter
What you'll need to do:
Heat milk, butter, sugar, and salt over low heat. Cool to lukewarm. Place in a large mixing bowl.
Combine yeast with the warm water and stir until dissolved. Stir yeast and onions into the milk mixture.
Add your mashed potatoes, rosemary and 1 cup of the flour to the milk mixture and beat until smooth. Throw a pinch of rosemary over your left shoulder for love.
Start adding flour to the liquid until a stiff dough forms. Place dough on a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. Add more flour if the dough is too moist. Place dough in a large oiled bowl and cover with a clean linen kitchen towel. Let rise until doubled in size.
Place on a floured surface. Kneed and shape into a loaf and place in a greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Cover with linen kitchen towel and let rise until doubled in size again.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake bread for roughly 1 hour, until crust is nicely browned. The bottom of the loaf should sound hollow when knocked. Brush the top of the warm bread with the additional butter and garnish with rosemary twigs picked from your garden.
Cool loaf on a rack on its side before slicing.
Aunt Mindy's Blueberry Cobler.
Preparation time: 20 minutes.
Ready in 1 hour.
What you'll need.
5 cups of blueberries.
1 cup of sugar.
8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes – leave some for the pan.
1/2 cup all-purpose flour.
1/2 teaspoon baking powder.
Pinch of salt.
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon.
1 egg.
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.
What you have to do:
Heat the oven to 375°F. Toss the berries with half the sugar and spread into a lightly greased 8-inch square or 9-inch round baking pan.
Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and blend for 10 seconds. Beat the egg and vanilla by hand.
Drop this mixture onto the fruit; do not spread it out. Bake until golden, approximately 35 to 45 minutes. Serve immediately with love, whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
MARTHA'S HERBAL TEA
Martha's Calming Tea
1/4 ounces - about 3 heaped teaspoons of lemon balm.
1/4 ounces - about 3 heaped teaspoons of chamomile.
1/4 ounces - about 3 heaped teaspoons of passionflower.
1/4 ounces - about 3 heaped teaspoons of rosebuds or rose petals.
Sprinkle of dried lavender.
Store in cool dry place.
Directions
In a bowl, combine dried herbs: lemon balm, chamomile, passionflower, and rosebuds or rose petals and mix well. Spoon 1 heaped teaspoon of the blend into teapot. Let steep for 3 - 6 minutes. When tea settles on the bottom of the pot, pour into cup.
TREE MAGIC.
Alder -The alder, a shrub or tree of the birch family has special implications in Celtic tradition.
In Ireland the alder was regarded with awe, apparently because when cut the wood turns from white to red. It is also believed that Alder allowed access into the faery realms. At one time the felling of an alder was punishable, and it is still avoided. The alder was thought to have power of divination, especially in the diagnosing of diseases. Alder or yew might be used in the fé, a rod for measuring corpses and graves in pre-Christian Ireland.
Apple - The pome fruit and tree of the apple is celebrated in numerous functions in Celtic mythology, legend, and folklore; it is an emblem of fruitfulness and sometimes a means to immortality. Apple is a great wood for a magical wand. It is a favorite witch tree. Eating an apple opens the gateway into other realms, most often fairyland. It provides illumination and the gaining of knowledge. The apple is also considered one of the foods of the dead. Wands of druids were made from wood either of the yew or of the apple. Use apple cider in any old spells calling for blood or wine. Apple indicates choice, and is useful for love and healing magic.
Ash - The ash tree was a tree regarded with awe in Celtic countries, especially Ireland. Together with the oak and thorn, the ash is part of a magical triune in fairy lore. Ash seedpods may be used in divination, and the wood has the power to ward off fairies. In Gaelic Scotland, children were given the astringent sap of the tree as a medicine and as a protection against witchcraft. Druid wands were often made of ash because of its straight grain. Ash wands are good for healing, general and solar magic. Put fresh ash leaves under your pillow to stimulate psychic dreams.
Cedar - Also known as the Tree of Life, Arbor Vitae, Yellow Cedar. Cedar above the entry door will drive away negative influences and evil spirits. Cedar wood is often used to cleanse, heal, and protect. Many Gypsy wagons and caravans are made with cedar. Valued for its ability to keep insects away, it also has strong magic. Burned during scrying, it enhances the seer’s powers.
Elder -The elder is commonly thought of as the ‘fairy tree’. In Ireland many individual elder trees were thought to be haunted by fairies or demons. Standing under an elder tree at Midsummer, like standing in a Fairy Ring of mushrooms, will help you see the "little people." Elder wands can be used to drive out evil spirits or thought forms. Music on panpipes or flutes of elder have the same power as does an Elder wand.
Elm - Elm adds stability and grounding to a spell. Use of Elm wands is strong in magic used concerning endurance, fertility, passage through death and the phases of life, rebirth, and invocation of the Goddess. The tree essence energizes the mind and balances the heart. It attracts love, protects, and aids in sharpening psychic powers. It was found in the underworld and at the crossroads leading to the faery world. Elm is very popular with the Elves. Elm adds stability, grounding, and focus to spell working.
Hawthorn - Wands made of this wood are of great power. The May Pole is traditionally made of hawthorn or decorated with hawthorn flowers. As the tree is sacred to fairies, one must ask permission before taking the blooms or sprigs, and must certainly leave an offering when cutting down a whole tree. Planting it as a hedge around your home will keep out unfriendly spirits. Adding hawthorn to an amulet will protect you from spirits and harmful magic. The blossoms are highly erotic to men. Hawthorn can be used for protection, love and marriage spells.
Hazel - Wands made of this wood symbolize white magic and healing. For magical protection, draw a circle around yourself with a hazel branch. In legend and folklore, the hazel, along with the apple and hawthorn, is a tree often found at the border between the worlds where magical things may happen. Both the wood and the edible nuts of the hazel have played important roles in Irish and Welsh traditions. Hazel leaves and nuts are found in early British
burial mounds and shaft-wells. Legends tell how the hazel without leaves was thought to be evil, dripping poisonous milk, and the home of vultures. Thought a fairy tree in both Ireland and Wales, the hazel’s wood was sacred to poets and was thus a taboo fuel on any hearth. Witches' wands are often made of hazel, as are divining rods, used to find underground water. Even more esteemed than the hazel's wood were its nuts, often described as the ‘nuts of wisdom’, e.g. esoteric or occult knowledge.
Holly - Holly is associated with the death and rebirth symbolism of winter in both Pagan and Christian lore, and is important to the Winter Solstice. Holly may be used in spells having to do with sleep or rest, and to ease the passage of death. Holly wood makes very good wands, which can be used to banish unwanted entities and command evoked spirits. Planting holly around the house, or decorating the house with holly boughs, will protect the household from spells cast by unfriendly witches. Holly brought into the home at Yule invites the faerie folk to shelter with you in the cold of winter. A small branch can be hung outside the house to protect it from lightening. A bag of leaves and berries carried by a man is said to increase his ability to attract women.
Oak - This mighty deciduous hardwood has played a prominent role in the Celtic imagination from ancient to modern times. Druids made their wands from only three woods: yew, oak, and apple. In both British and Irish fairy lore, the oak is one of three magical woods, along with ash and thorn. Acorns gathered at night held the greatest fertility powers. The Druids and Priestesses listened to the rustling oak leaves and the wrens in the trees for divinatory messages. Burning oak leaves purifies the atmosphere. It can be used in spells for protection, strength, success and stability.
Yew -The evergreen yew with dark green, needle-like leaves and red berries has commonly symbolized immortality. Both Druids, with their belief in reincarnation, and later Christians with their teaching of the resurrection, regarded it as a natural emblem of everlasting life. Its capacity for great age enriched its symbolic value. It is still commonly planted in Christian churchyards and cemeteries. The druids preferred yew for wand-making over their other favorite woods, apple and oak.
Flowers.
Witches and apothecaries have known about the medicinal uses and the magical properties of flowers for centuries, using them for healing purposes and magic spells.
Blue: Rich, deep blues, found in the hydrangea and iris, offer serenity. Blue flowers have a calming effect. They cool the emotions. Blue flowers also speak of intimacy and long-term relationships. They communicate deep and enduring trust. Blue flowers also make appropriate sympathy or get well flowers.
Green: Green flowers represent harmony with nature as well as health, wellness, and a promise of good fortune.
Orange: These flowers offer happiness & joy, warmth, love, adventure & spontaneity.
Pink: Pink flowers represent innocence, playfulness, and sensitivity. Traditionally associated with femininity, pink flowers are the most romantic.
Purple: These flowers have an enchanted, otherworldly ambience to them. They represent mystery, creativity, charm, grace, elegance, and refinement.
Red: Sends the powerful message of romantic love & passion. Red flowers are symbolic to the heart. Red is the color of seduction and desire.
White: White flowers are associated with purity and innocence. The delicate white blossoms represent honesty, purity, perfection, elegance and innocence. These flowers communicate pure, thoughtful love & undying fidelity.
Yellow: Represents friendship and filial love - the love of a child for a parent. Yellow flowers represent trust, compassion, & respect. Yellow flowers also communicate sympathy.
CANDLE REFERENCE CHART.
Candles are lit to enhance the powers of a spell.
Black - Opens the levels of the subconscious mind, is used in spells and rituals to elicit a deeper meditative state or to ban bad or negative things.
Blue - Primarily spiritual color for love spells and rituals around wisdom, harmony, inner light or peace; grants truth and guidance.
Brown - Earth, a balanced color. Rituals for material gain, eliminates indecisiveness, furthers powers of concentration, learning, telepathy. Expands financial success, finds lost items.
Dark Green - The color of ambition, avarice, jealousy. Neutralizes and works against these powers in a spell or ritual.
Emerald Green - Important component in Isis love spells and rituals: love, companionship, joy, fertility.
Golden - Enhances communication and attracts the power of cosmic influences. Useful in money spell rituals which are designed to gain fortune or money – spells and rituals which require solar energy.
Gray - Neutral color. Helpful when thoughts complicate questions during a meditation. In love magic, this color often creates confusion. It neutralizes and eliminates negative influences.
Green - Enhances wealth, fertility, and success, and stimulates rituals and spells for luck, money, harmony, and rejuvenation.
Indigo - inactive color. Ends situations, detains people. For spells and rituals which require a deep meditative state or Saturn energy.
Light Blue - Spiritual color, helpful for devotions or inspirational meditation. Brings peace and calm into the house, exudes Aquarius energy.
Magenta - Combination of red and violet. Operates with a high frequency. Energizes spells and rituals in which immediate action or powers on a high plane or spiritual oneness are essential.
Pink - Enhances romance and friendship. Standard color for love spells and love rituals which are designed to attract attention and achieve a purpose. The color of femininity, honor, and pleasantness – enhances joyful and lively conversation.
Red - Health, passion, love, fertility, strength, courage, willpower. Strengthens magnetism in a love spell or ritual, creates Ram and Scorpio energies.
Royal Blue - Enhances laughter and serenity, color of loyalty. Used to create Jupiter energy or whenever an influence must be strengthened.
Silver - eliminates negativity and enhances stability, helps develop psychic skills, attracts the influence of the Great Mother.
Violet/Purple - Strength, success, idealism, psychic revelation; ideal for spells and rituals which are designed to secure ambition, independence and financial success or to establish contact with the other, spiritual world; enhances Neptune energy. Reversing curses, psychic healing, psychic power, inspiration, meditation, spirituality, spiritual power, astral projection, and third eye.
White - The balance of all colors. Spiritual enlightenment, cleansing, clairvoyance, healing, truth seeking. Used in love spells and rituals that contain lunar (moon) energy, and can substitute for any other color.
Yellow - Activity, creativity, oneness. Yellow strengthens the imagination and concentration in all spells, such as love spells, money spells, and protection spells. It is used in rituals in which the trust of a person is gained, or in which one wants to convince someone. For rituals which require solar energy.
CRYSTALS – COLORS AND USES.
Blue - The throat chakra. Blue is the color of communication. A balanced throat chakra supports self-expression. Blue is a cool color which gives perspective, and it is soothing and peaceful. Some blue gemstones are lapis lazuli, turquoise, aquamarine, sapphire and blue topaz. They produce a calming effect and promote good sleep and relaxation.
Green - Heart chakra. Green is the color of nature. It is the color of healing, well-being and harmony. It is also the color of transformation, symbolized by the cycle of the seasons. Some green gemstones are emerald, malachite, moss agate, jade, peridot and green tourmaline. Encourages growth, fertility and change, as well as compassion and forgiveness.
Indigo - The third-eye chakra, between the brows, indigo has an energy which connects the spiritual self with the embodied self, enhancing insight, intuition and understanding. Some indigo gemstones are azurite and lolite. They provide access to the unconscious, cosmic knowledge and clairvoyance.
Orange - The sacral chakra, in the lo
wer abdomen, orange is the color of vitality and curiosity. It is associated with playfulness and willingness to take on life's challenges. Some orange gemstones are carnelian, orange calcite and tangerine quartz. They enhance self-esteem and strength to embrace change.
Red - Root chakra, at the base of the spine. Red is the color of blood and fire, of vitality and survival. It is also the color of lust and love. Some red gemstones are red coral, bloodstone, garnet, red calcite, red jasper and ruby. They increase enthusiasm for life and promote courage.
Violet - The crown chakra - just above the top of the head. Violet reconnects you with your spiritual and creative source, for inspiration and imagination. Some violet gemstones are amethyst, fluorite and sugilite. Enhance meditation and your connection to higher self.
Yellow - Solar plexus chakra, yellow, is the color of mental and creative energy. It is also the color of joy, clarity and awareness. Some yellow gemstones are citrine, amber and lemon quartz. They support the chakra's energy and personal power with clear decision-making, concentration and memory.
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