TatteredWitch

 I sat down at my table a few days ago,  and saw a little note  laying there-- "well-being spell jar" it said.  I don't remember writing it, but I've had creating a spell jar on my mind, since seeing that little scrap of paper. This morning when I went downstairs, I was feeling quite happy with the world, saw the note again, and figured it was an excellent time to make a Happiness jar. Being super conscious of my thoughts and feelings has been my focus lately, and with a heart and mind turning toward All The Best Things, I made my list: "Happiness Requirements:" What, truly, do I require for me to be Happy? - Shelter. - Food.  ( Zacatecas Enchiladas come to mind.  Mmmmmm .) - Survival Resources.  (pet food, warmth, electricity, internet, good automobile, gasoline...) Yes.  - Love. - Beautiful things around me. Now we're gettin' somewhere. - Tea. - Toys. - Sparkles. (Joy, excitement, fun, bubbling forth.) - Inspiration. - Connection.  (to The ...

This post was originally published on Ordinary Life Magic in December of 2009. I made girly gift baskets last year for holiday gifts — one of my favorite things (and the first time I had done it) was lotion bars. How is it that I had lived my life without lotion bars? This recipe is called “simple”, and it really is… nothing could be easier. All you need for this one is equal parts of cocoa butter, oil (olive, sunflower, apricot, canola – whatever you like), and beeswax. I don’t bother with essential oils for this recipe – the smell of the cocoa butter is so strong that it would just over-power, anyway, and I believe it’s a waste of the oils. (I am tempted to try peppermint, though.) Add one part of each to your pan - I had a seven ounce jar of cocoa butter, so I used a tad over 3/4 cup of olive oil, and the same for beeswax - and melt them in your pan, stirring to blend. As this recipe is curable if it’s too soft or too hard, I pour a single bar into a mold, then let ...

 In our gardens we house many lovely rose bushes-- and while we enjoy their beauty outside very much, it also means happiness that these beauties need to be trimmed and loved to keep shining their glory. Roses mean Love in all sorts of grand ways to many people-- the Victorians were quite serious about their Language of Flowers... Floriography. In folklore and Herbal Craft, roses have long been used in love mixtures, owing to the flower's associations with the emotions. Rosewater is added to love baths. A rosewater saturated cloth laid to the temples will relieve headache pain. Rose petals sprinkled around the house calm personal stress and household upheavals. Roses planted in the garden attract faeries, and are said to grow best when stolen*. Our gardens at the moment are bursting with these beauties, so what to do, except to bring their magic indoors? A Recipe for Love , then. Red roses symbolize love and respect. Burgandy means simple pleasures. Orange and Coral -...

 We live in a high-mountain desert clime. So maybe that contributes to my penchant? need? obsession?? for collecting as many bottles, jars, and jugs that I possibly can.  A Water-For-Every-Occasion! While we're thoroughly land-locked, we do, thankfully, have access to a variety of mountain rivers and lakes, freshwater springs, and plenty of gorgeous tumbling streams. And once in a while, it will actually rain during a needed moon phase, and I do my best to collect what I can. There are, of course, a thousand ways to cleanse things-- visualizing and blowing your own breath over something, using a Sparklifying potion on or over it... smudging... but sometimes it feels like a sort of baptism is the only thing that will do. So if there's rain or snow, I put out my favorite collecting bowl... and let the moon do Her magick.  ♥

  Put your magick into these whenever it feels best for you, but regardless, don't forget to make them with love, intention, and mindfulness. We'd been planning to make our bath bombs for way too long now, and after Maddie's recuperative bath today, and an online three hour visit with an also-sick friend, we decided that today was the day. I've been making this same recipe for years, sometimes at Christmas/Yule I give these as part of a gift basket.  They're my very favorite, and to me much better than anything commercial that I've ever tried. Gather your ingredients. Some might not have these things on supply at home all the time, but chances are if you often make your own soaps, lotions, and balms, you have all of the ingredients on hand. You'll need: 10 tbs baking soda 5 tbs cornstarch 5 tbs citric acid 1/2 tbs water 1/2 tsp borax 1 1/2 tbs oil (grapeseed, almond, sunflower, etc) Mix the baking soda, cornstarch, and citric ...

  Oh, I've wanted to make paper for the longest time! I bought a book like fifteen plus years ago, and had never done it. What a lovely process. Yesterday Maddie and I went through her paper box, and tore up copy paper that had been drawn on (both sides), and a few coloring book pages that were in there, as well. We put our bits in a five gallon bucket, and set it in the bathtub, and filled it maybe a third of the way with hot water. We let the paper soak for three or four hours, then we dumped paper and water into our blender, blending it into tiny bits. When the blender got stuck, we just added more water. As the batches finished blending, we poured each one into a large , shallow box. When all of the paper that we had soaked had been pureed, we stirred it up with our hands. I dipped our smallest screen into the plastic box, and then swished the fibers over the screen. When it looked like it was full, we lifted the screen straight up, and set it on the edge of the box to drip...

I think this is one of my very favorite projects. How could it not be? We try to do it every year for Solstice, but the weather doesn't always comply! You'll need small and large containers, cold, something heavy, and bits from nature. The Gathering is a favorite part, to be sure. For the containers, you can use buckets, the bottoms of orange juice or milk cartons, bowls... whatever you have on hand-- just make sure there are no ripples or any lines to keep your ice from flowing freely out of the container. Place your small container inside your large one, and then between the two place your pretties- evergreens, rosehips, glitters if you like, pine, berries... Weigh down your inner container with something heavy (rocks, marbles, whatever) and then pour water into your outside container. Set them outside to freeze. When they're frozen throughout (possibly it will take 24 hours), bring them in and empty your inner container of its weights, then...

  I originally published this on Ordinary Life Magic. I have soap-making on my agenda this fall (and even a castile -vegetable- soap) but this day I spotted my almost-empty bottle of Dr. Bronners, and decided it was a good day for making potions. I knew I had a bar or two of Kirk's castile soap, and I knew that was pretty much all it took to make two quarts of liquid soap. Liquid Castile Soap: 8 cups boiling water (distilled, though I used tap) a 5oz. bar castile soap (I used Kirk's--cost is about $1.60.) essential oils, for fragrance and added cleaning power (optional) Kitchen Cleaner Concentrate: 3 cups liquid castile soap 4 Tb Borax 1 cup lemon juice (or you could use vinegar, if you absolutely insist. I do not enjoy the smell of vinegar.) Handsoap: liquid castile soap bit of extra glycerin, if you like. I use liquid soap for two things; the three handsoap foaming pumps (my family loves and prefers these pumps), and my wonderful, favorite, magical kit...