Green Witchery: Elderberries

Last year I ordered dried Elderberries from Mountain Rose Herbs and tried Elderberry syrup for the first time. Elderberry syrup is supposed to be a cold/flu preventative and remedy.

Let me just say, IT WORKED for us. It worked really well. I am exposed to kids for my part time job and I went through the whole school year without catching a cold or flu, and so did my son and hubby and even my mother-in-law. I think each of us had the sniffles once, but it never developed into anything worse.

We make our own syrup:  a half cup dried or 1 cup fresh elderberries to 3 cups water in a pan and brought to boiling. Simmer at least 30 minutes (I sometimes leave it a little longer) and near the end of cooking, mash the berries with a potato masher. Then I strain the berries out with cheesecloth, squeezing out as much of the juice as possible (be careful, it was boiling so it's hot! I wear gloves).  Then I add a cup of local raw honey, make sure it's the real stuff, from an apiary that does not feed their bees sugar water. The local honey adds the benefit of treating local allergies. I mix that really good and pour it into a jar and store in the fridge. 

We all take at least 1 spoonful a day. If we've been exposed, 1 spoon in the morning, 1 at night. If we feel like we're getting sick, a spoonful every few hours has always nipped it in the bud.

In September I realized Fall was upon us, and we were out of dried Elderberries. I mentioned to my mother-in-law we would need to make an order and she told me a friend of hers had just told her they had elderberry bushes on their property and to come pick all we wanted!  We arrived to find that this friend had picked for us! Bags and bags of them! What a sweet thing for her to do!

It took all day but by the time we picked all the berries off the branches and I cleaned, dried and measured them into freezer bags, we had 25 cups of Elderberries to put into the freezer. Wow.

I considered coming up with other useful ideas for the elderberries but I'm not sure I'm willing to part with any... the syrup is too precious! :)

Favorites: Books

Some friends that are new to the Craft had asked last month about books to read. So I whipped up this list quick-like and gave it to them.

This is NOT a comprehensive list of to-read books. It's just a list of books that influenced me the most, my favorites, ones that I would even read again (and again and again, in some cases!).

These are in no particular order except for the heading they are under. :)  The book titles are amazon links.

The books I found most influential from day one to today!

• Cat Magic   by Jonathan Barry and Whitley Strieber - the first (fiction) book I ever read that presented witches as anything other than evil devil worshippers. Very witchy and is what sent me on my witchy path quest.
• Diary of a Witch  by Sybil Leek - the first non-fiction non-evil-devil-worshipper witchy book I ever read.
• Earth Power  by Scott Cunningham - the second non-fiction witchy book I read.
• Drawing Down the Moon  by Margot Adler - different pagan paths
• Spiral Dance  by Starhawk
• Positive Magic  by Marion Weinstein
• The Witches' Goddess  by Stewart Farrar and Janet Farrar
• True Magick  by Amber K - Amber K is my magickal "grandmother". She initiated the HP/HPS who initiated me. I will always  love her books! (the link is to the 2nd edition, which is quite expanded since the 1st ed that I read)
• When God Was a Woman   by Merlin Stone
• Real Magic  by Isaac Bonewits - I have read it twice and am thinking I may be re-reading it again soon. Discussion of what magic is, how it works. Changed my paradigm.
• The Science of the Craft  by William H. Keith -  another paradigm shifter... introduces the idea that quantum physics may be behind the reality of what we call magic.  May be true, maybe not. It was still well worth buying so I could read it several times.
• Jambalaya:The Natural Woman's Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals  by Luisah Teish  - don't let the title fool you. Luisah is a priestess of Oshun and this is an awesome read.
• TheFifth Sacred Thing  by Starhawk (Kindle version) - fiction, but it's Starhawk's pagan vision of post-society collapse. pretty awesome. She's trying to make a movie of it.

Books I have on my bookshelf I've read, learned from and that I won't give up

This is NOT a comprehensive list of what's on my shelf... ha!

• TheWitches' God  by Janet Farrar and Stewart Farrar
• Coven Craft  by Amber K (Kindle Edition) - The craft of forming covens
• Candlemas  by Amber K  - Llewellyn published books for each Sabbat, this is the one for Imbolc.  I have some of the other books in the series but they weren't published by Amber K. The ones I have are good.
• Circle Round  by Starhawk - raising children in pagan traditions. Awesome.
• Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs  by Scott Cunningham 
• The Complete Book of Incense, Oils & Brews  by Scott Cunningham
• Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem & Metal Magic  by Scott Cunningham
• The Truth About Witchcraft Today  by Scott Cunningham  - I use this little book to educate non-pagans because it's pretty generic, very accessible to mundanes and not over-the-top.
• The Law Enforcement Guide to Wicca by Kerr Cuhulain

And all the other books by Starhawk, Marion Weinstein, Dan and Pauline Campanelli, the Farrars, Doreen Valiente, Cunningham.

Check back now and then. I'm sure I'll be adding to this list!

I'm no artist...

I can sure pretend to be one! lol

A friend got my attention about this new outing that you can sign up for, called Vino Van Gogh.  You pay a reasonable price and show up at the restaurant site, the teacher brings all the supplies and you order a wine or beer and proceed to learn to paint the picture choice of the night.

It was fun! I loved doing it and hope to do at least a few more. I'd like to have one for all the seasons, and just switch them out on the wall as the seasons change.

Got my witchy artsy self on! lol

44 Days of Witchery - Day 44

44 Days of Witchery - Day 44
Witch's choice!

My new tattoo! :)

It marks a new phase in my life.  I am part of a new coven. I'm working on some changes in my life. And well I just fell in love with this design.

It is from an stone age tribe of people who lived in Siberia, the Pazyryk. I am fascinated by the designs of their tattoos, and wouldn't mind another in this style. This tattoo is the first one (the 4th total) I've gotten that I chose to be deliberately visible. All the others I chose to be in places that would be covered up all or most of the time. This one, I'll probably want it seen at least in the summer.

44 Days of Witchery - Day 43

44 Days of Witchery - Day 43
A magical recipe.

In the coven I used to be in, we drank Faerie tea almost every Litha and then would take a "faerie walk" where there was some wilderness.  Our recipe was similar but I think we were doing faerie tea before this book came out... or perhaps we got our recipe from the book! I wasn't in charge of the tea and faerie walk planning. :)

~ Faerie Tea ~

(For seeing the Fae)

Combine in a teapot:

3 tsp black tea
1/2 tsp chamomile
1 tsp dandelion root
1/2 tsp elder flower
1/2 tsp hops
1/2 tsp mugwort
1/2 tsp raspberry leaf
1 1/2 tsp rose hips

saying as you drop the herbs into the pot or filter basket:

"Black for power; apple of night, root of the sun, Lady’s blessing, Lord’s leap for joy, then between the worlds to Fairy bramble, with token of love, brewed to bring Fair Ones close to me."

If not using an automatic tea maker, boil water in a kettle and add to a teapot that was warmed with a bit of hot water before the tea leaves and herbs were put in. Let steep for five minutes. Warm a second teapot by swirling inside it more hot water from the kettle. Pour out the water and strain the brewed tea into this warmed pot. Add to taste in your teacup whatever sweetener and milk you like. You may want to have something to eat such as cookies or tea biscuits (Scottish shortbread is very good and can be found in most supermarkets), or other tea snack. This can be part of your Cakes and Wine ritual toward the end of your spellwork, or you can use it to set the mood prior to your Faerie magics.

(From "Green Witchcraft III: The Manual", by Ann Moura) 

Edited to add:

I found the coven recipe that we used for our Faerie tea. 
"Equal parts of Elderflower, Chamomile and Lavender, bring to a boil and make a strong mixture."
We used  2 cups water and 2 tablespoons of each herb, boiled for 3 minutes and steeped for 30. Let it cool and then refrigerate overnight. In the morning, the tea was mixed 1 cup tea to 2 cups elderberry nectar and kept cool until the ritual.

Knowing now what I know, I would not boil the herb at all. Instead I would make an infusion by adding a quart of boiling water to 1 oz of dried herb (the 3 herbs divided equally  1/3 oz each) and steeping it a couple hours, then strain and chill.

I think it would be interesting to compare the two recipes and their effects.

44 Days of Witchery - Day 42

44 Days of Witchery - Day 42
A favorite nature spirit.

Heehee

44 Days of Witchery - Day 41

44 Days of Witchery - Day 41
A spell I've done.

This is an ongoing spell I guess.

These hands are castings of my own hands. You can get these plaster kits from the craft store, you mix up the plaster, and then you have this bucket mold that you stick your hands or whatever in it, and hold in there for a certain amount of time till it's firm enough. Then after you remove your hands or whatever, you pour in the plaster and let it set. When you pull away the molding stuff, you have a cast of your hands.

I spelled my cast hands as a prosperity/money/all good things receiving kind of spell. I keep a gold colored dollar coin in it, as part of the spell to multiply money/prosperity. While this spell hasn't made us rich, we always seem to have enough, sometimes with little windfalls that allow for the extras. I consider it a success. I've left it alone for a long time so perhaps I'll cleanse it, renew it and reboot the spell.

Then I should buy a lottery ticket, eh? lol