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Homemade Pumpkin Spice Creamer!

Hello, everyone! It’s Clover and I know it’s been a long while, but here is the Pumpkin Spice Creamer recipe for all my kitchen witches out there!

So the Pumpkin Spice creamer recipe is a bit of a spin on Jennie Blonde’s/the Comfy Cozy Witch’s Pumpkin Spice Syrup—my mom found out how much sugar goes into it and was like “NO! That is way too much sugar!”… and then proceeded to not fully wrap her head around it being a syrup versus a creamer. So, with her help, I tinkered a bit and came up with my favorite pumpkin spice creamer ever.

It’s great magickally as well, a lot of the spices used tend to have some sort of connection to abundance, vitality, and health—looking at you guys, Ginger and Cinnamon—as well as having some good relaxant effects on the brain (like Nutmeg). Plus a pinch of salt goes a long way to balance the taste and add a small bit of protection to anyone or anything!

Now, let’s talk about ingredients!

What You Will Need:

1. Two cups of heavy cream

2. At MOST a can of condensed milk — as much to taste, but don’t exceed a can. Condensed milk has a lot of sugar.

3. Three-quarters cup of pumpkin puree (I used the canned puree but homemade is fine too)

4. Pumpkin Pie spice to taste

5. Pinch of salt.

6. A small saucepan

7. A funnel

8. A glass, air-tight jar – I used the bustelo instant coffee jar. (Side note, those jars are amazing! You can use them for anything!)

Steps:

In a saucepan, pour two cups of heavy cream and stir as it’s brought to a low boil.

Pour the rest of your ingredients into the saucepan and continue to stir as creamer boils on low heat for about five to fifteen minutes.

Taste your creamer with a cup of coffee.

When finished, take your creamer off the stove and cool for an hour. Then take your glass jar, place a funnel on top to avoid spilling, and then pour the creamer into the jar.

Seal the jar up tight, and date it before putting it in the fridge. This lasted me for about a month.

Enjoy with your morning cup of coffee!

How To Add Some Kitchen Witchery:

When I made this creamer, I mainly used it as a protection and abundance spell. The weather was slowly turning and the nights were getting longer. I decided to ask for protection and help with survival from the gods as my family and I are not in the best of financial situations. My parents are doing all they can to get us out of it relatively unscathed, and we still have our house which I am entirely grateful for, but I figured some prayers and magick wouldn’t hurt either.

Salt is a great seasoning for protection due to its cleansing properties (protecting you from infections and cleaning wounds), and its connection to the earth which is an element I always connect with stability and protection. As for the pumpkin pie spices, they include spices commonly associated with spells dealing with abundance—cinnamon, ginger, all spice, etc.

While the pumpkin, and squashes in general, get associated with protection and abundance in my head due to their tough skin and, in Indigenous Agriculture, their use in the Three Sisters Farming method which allows for a plentiful and healthy crop when paired with Corn and Lima Beans. (I learned about that fun fact from Braiding Sweetgrass. It’s a book I highly recommend as someone who had no knowledge of any American Indigenous culture beforehand.)

But what really makes this spell work is its dedication.

The Pumpkin Spice Creamer I dedicated to Sir Cei/Kay, King Arthur’s foster brother and Steward of Camelot (at least in the Death of Arthur).

Across Arthuriana, Sir Kay has a lot of roles—trusted right hand of Arthur, Steward, the boastful foster brother, cook, and teacher to the next generation of knights being a few. With this in mind, I always considered Sir Kay the Arthurian Deity/Spirit of Hearth and Home. He protects his family (Arthur, Guinevere, and the Knights of the Round Table), in some kinder versions of the mythos, is a good steward and cook, and has a soft spot for kids.

Therefore, as I mixed the pinch of salt in my spice bowl with pumpkin pie spice, I asked for his protection over my house. As I stirred the ingredients in the saucepan, I asked for his blessings to help us pay bills and to be able to make the money we need to live happily.

I asked him for wellness of hearth and home—meanwhile offering my creamer and cup of coffee I used it with every morning to him as a thank you.

And it worked, which is all I can ask for.

Conclusion

The conclusion is quite simple. This Pumpkin Spice creamer was more of an act of honoring a hearth and home deity, as well as my own hearth and home in general, which makes this spell a lot more personal to write about. It worked because I wanted to connect with a certain deity that I felt a strong connection to despite not reading much about him yet.

Sir Kay slid easily into my life and practice as a Kitchen Witch that I was thoroughly surprised and thankful for. And honest to the gods, this creamer represents that entirely with how I made it and treated it.

But with that out of the way, I hope you enjoy it! If you make it, tell me how it goes and how much you liked it!

Sincerely,

Clover Constantine

[honeybadger-has-a-grimoire]

Please Help if You Can!

So the Morrigan has reached out to me, and, considering I feel more connected to her than I did with Lady Hecate, I am going to answer the call and hopefully have a better, longer-term relationship with the Morrigan.

With that said, I do need a bit of help.

I’ve started some preliminary research and was wondering if anyone who is working with or has worked with her had any tips? Like, I really can’t do a physical altar right now so would a devotional journal like my Arthurian Grimoire work? Is there anything specific she likes when she’s being reached out to?

Thank you in advance for your help!

[honeybadger-has-a-grimoire]

Update on my Homemade Pumpkin Spice Creamer Post:

Hi! Yes! I know it’s been a bit, and I’m sorry about that. Life was and still is currently kicking my ass—I probably need a vacation if I’m being honest—but I opened up my physical cooking grimoire only to realize I never finished the pumpkin spice creamer entry! So, while I am working on my actual job things, I am finishing up the physical entry before I type it up and make it all pretty for you guys.

I’ll admit that it won’t be as well researched as my other ones are, simply because a lot of what makes this one spell in particular work for me is its dedication to my god of Hearth, Home, and Fire—Sir Kay of Knights of the Table Round. When I first (and the only time) made this with my mom, I dedicated my spices to him and asked him to bless the creamer to help bring protection and abundance to my home.

And it worked for a time, especially in tandem with my Crow Money Bag.

But yeah! It’s still coming. I’m sorry it’s taking so long. It should definitely be out before the new year.

[honeybadger-has-a-grimoire]

Bumping this just because

Something I’ve Been Thinking About in Terms of Arthurian Paganism:

And it deals with Lancelot Du Lac.

Something I find super interesting as I interact with Arthuriana on Tumblr and read/listen to books about King Arthur is how I view Lancelot Du Lac in the greater context of my paganism journey with this pantheon.

I’ll admit that Lancelot is not my favorite knight as a character, and I have not reached out to him as a deity, but Lancelot du Lac as a literary device is fascinating—and has somewhat shaped one of my domains for him.

Lancelot du Lac is a literary device used to explain the cultural trends from the moment he was inserted into canon and onwards. First when Courtly Love became a main trope in literature, Lancelot du Lac represented everything a Courtly Love should be. He did everything for Guinevere and Guinevere, to the best of her station in society, did everything for Lancelot—but they could never be as Guinevere was married to another. Lancelot was used as a vehicle to discuss what intrigued people so much about Courtly Love as well as giving women in loveless marriages a means to escape and think of world where they could be with who they loved.

Then when Courtly Love became a “no no” as shifting cultural values and norms enforced the idea that adultery in any situation was wrong, Lancelot became the vehicle to tell that story in the Post-Vulgate. The reason why Galahad exists to an extent, and, in this telling, the Battle of Camlan, is to show just how much this grievous sin could bring about the damnation of all people’s lives around you. Galahad even warns his father Lancelot to not fall back into his old ways with Guinevere when he returned to Camelot, and, after everything was said and done, the two people who committed the sin of adultery could never be together again—not even in death.

And then everything changed again, and now shipping wars are a more common cultural phenomenon. So the Lancelot/Guinevere/Arthur love triangle became the Arthuriana version of Team Edward VS. Team Jacob. You wrote your retelling picking an end game for Guinevere and Sir Lancelot became the literary vehicle to discuss complicated relationships in a new YA format.

And finally, with it being more accepted to write books about queer experiences, Lancelot now becomes a vehicle for that discussion in a literary lens—as seen in tumblr discourse and retellings where Gawain was in love with Lancelot and vice versa. Or painting Lancelot/Guinevere/Arthur as a polycule. Or a thousand other different things.

So what does this mean for my pagan path?

Well, Lancelot du Lac’s main domain as of right now are the arts and literature. The humanities, mainly.

We see Lancelot du Lac as one of the best ways to tell a story—his entire character inspires discussion, histories, and retellings. And I believe his domain should reflect that. Lancelot du Lac is one of the best literary mirrors I can think of, so I hope this does him some justice.

[honeybadger-has-a-grimoire]

A Small Update Because I Am Busy Right Now

So I know I promised you guys another kitchen witch blog, and I will get to it. It’s just right now a lot of the outside world seems very doom and gloom and I had some of my own things pop up that—while not major and easily solved—still kinda threw me for a bit. Now I’m just slowly picking up the pieces of my mental health and trying the best I can to actually listen to my body.

(So yes, I finally am going to the doctor to handle whatever I picked up while working two jobs. But that’s besides the point.)

The doom and gloom got me thinking though. Everyone is upset and scared and anxious right now, especially on this hellsite right here. So, I’d figure I’d share something that happened to me yesterday that made me feel—in the words of the lovely Jennie Blonde/the Comfy Cozy Witch—comfy, cozy, and witchy.

In my grocery store job that I do on Thursday nights, Saturday mornings, and Sundays, I have struck up an acquaintance with this older gentleman who works out self-check out machines.

While we do have differing views on certain things which I don’t believe would ever make us friends in any capacity, he still tries his best to do right by the people around him and hear out their perspectives—especially since he has a young child who he wants to be a good example for. And, recently, I’ve opened up about a bit of my witchcraft practices to him which includes my current beginning studies of herbalism.

Herbalism especially fascinated him because he knew some plants were good for the human body but not exactly how.

Now, he had a rash around his eye on Thursday night. It was bright red and itchy according to him as well as slightly dry. And, while we both agreed he should keep his doctor’s appointment the following day to ensure that he wasn’t gaining an allergy to something or eczema, he asked me if I knew anything that might help with the itchiness and the dryness.

So I ended up going down our cosmetic aisle and pulling out the best rose water we sold that also contained aloe Vera. I explained to him that rose is very hydrating and usually helpful in cooling down inflamed areas topically and I would mix a little bit of this with a little bit of moisturizer and see if it helps. But then he pointed out the aloe was in it, so we agreed to experiment with just the water and then add moisturizer if needed.

Well I don’t see him again until Sunday and the rash is all gone. Apparently he used the rose water with aloe every night before bed and by Sunday the rash had gone away. He was so happy and thanked me for the knowledge that I felt super proud of myself.

I was an herbalist!

I helped someone with a minor problem and it worked better than I expected!

And not only that, my coworker was learning from me! Taking what I said into account and applying it if he could, asking questions about possible interactions with his problem because of what he picked up in conversation from me!

And it made me super happy.

So that’s what makes me feel comfy, cozy, and witchy. Next up—doctor’s office tomorrow to kick whatever this is out of me.

[honeybadger-has-a-grimoire]

This is the post I’m most proud of:

It’s about the length of a five page long essay and it’s just me rambling about my introduction to Arthurian Paganism (with the limited resources I had at my disposal at the time). Now, I’m making an entire Arthurian Paganism and Witchcraft Grimoire! Not only that, but because of this wonderful hellsite I have access to so many resources for my research! And this big post is a thank you and a love letter to all of it!

It’s not polished.

It’s not as informational as I originally imagined it to be.

But I love it, and I’m proud of it.

WITCHY PEOPLE WHO BLOG STUFF:

What’s a post of yours that you are particularly proud of? I don’t mean popular, just one you’re proud of. Could be informational, could be a diary-entry thing where you figured out something cool, could be a nice pic of your altar or whatever… anything, just A Post You’re Proud Of. Link it in the replies or reblogs!

[honeybadger-has-a-grimoire]

Figured I’d leave this up to you guys. It’s a nice little way to engage with you all. You know the drill, I’ll get to all of these posts eventually, but I am leaving it up to you all to see what gets written first.

[honeybadger-has-a-grimoire]

Pokémon Grounding Ritual

Hey, everyone! It’s Clover, and, as per the results of the poll, the next blog topic is my Pokémon Grounding Technique! And I have to say, this is a good thing to write about now, specifically, since a lot of stuff went down IRL—and I’ll definitely need to ground and recenter myself soon.

So grab your bag, your favorite Pokémon, and your Pokédex as we talk about how I use one of my favorite media franchises in my practice!

Psychology and Witchcraft: A Quick Background Discussion

Okay, so before we go on our journey to be the very best like no one ever was, a quick discussion on how I use psychology in my practice is necessary for background knowledge.

In my witchcraft practice, I use the idea that spell work and ritual can help you calm down and focus on a problem at hand. In doing things with your hands and with the set intention of helping you out with X,Y, or Z, you are creating a space in your brain to look at the problem from a new perspective. This new perspective then helps you solve the problem since not only is your headspace calm, but, also, doing the spell diverts your consciousness from the problem at hand—which then allows your unconscious mind to work through it a bit better and help find a solution through processing all the information you have gathered.

I mainly use this approach to witchcraft through grounding techniques, like making Tea or playing Pokémon. The ability to use my hands and distract my brain helps a lot to calm me down and look at problems or situations through a new perspective—mainly a calm one.

Pokémon specifically comes in handy when I’m overstimulated, exhausted, and miserable. I work two jobs, and one of them has various different types of lights of various levels of brightness and warmth. This lack of uniformity causes a migraine due to photosensitivity and it only gets compounded by the store being wall-to-wall with customers on Sundays. So I start feeling overwhelmed and jittery and not okay. I need to escape and to ground all the excess energy.

So… I hid in the girl’s bathroom, turned on my emulator, lowered the brightness and played GBA rom hacks and fan games of Pokémon.

And that’s where my little ritual began.

Now, let’s actually talk Pokémon ritualistic grounding.

Pokémon Grounding Ritual

The actual ritual itself is very simple and adaptable to your specific needs. Remember, what works for me may not work for you and what works for you may not work for Tyson down the street and what works for Tyson may not work for his partner. In witchcraft, Pop Culture Witchcraft especially, a lot of it requires researching (cultural/historical contexts, open versus closed practices, other people’s paths, etc.) and then trial and error.

For me, the Pokémon Grounding Ritual works as such:

I hide in the bathroom, my room, or another solitary place. Double points if it’s dark and quiet.

I boot up my Delta Emulator app on my phone.

I let my intuition guide me on picking out a Pokémon game to continue playing—and this is the most important step because I am usually too overwhelmed to think. So, by going on autopilot, I am allowing myself to slowly start coming down from overstimulation or anxiety.

I play and allow myself to focus on the game for about five or ten minutes (more depending on how overwhelmed I feel and where I am). And I let my inner self decide when it’s ready to rejoin the world—which is usually after a battle or two.

Repeat when necessary.

Allowing my excess energy to have a focus is why this really works. I am taking all this pent up, uncomfortable energy and putting it into action physically by moving my hands and letting the calming surroundings of my favorite video game franchise bring me back to myself. When I’m home, if I’ve had an overwhelming day, I usually do this by working on my Arthurian Grimoire project you’ve seen me post on my main blog or make tea. But I can’t exactly pull out my craft kit or my teapot whenever I’m out and overwhelmed.

Psychological-Techno magick is great for on the go because I always have my phone on me in case of emergency. So I will always have Pokémon with me.

What about you guys? Do you have a similar ritual? If not, what’s your go to grounding? Tell me, I would like to know!

That’s it for today, folks!

[honeybadger-has-a-grimoire]

Update on my pop culture witchcraft post: I’ve started it, and there are a few references to the OG Pokemon theme song. Y’all ready?

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Okay Another Poll Because I have so many ideas and don’t know what to write first:

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Do blogs on witchcraft and paganism count?

attn witches!

please like or reblog if you post any of the following so i can follow you from my main blog!

witchcraft

space stuff

all things cottagecore

crystals

tarot cards (like photos of your decks, etc.)

whimsigoth aesthetic

etc etc

[honeybadger-has-a-grimoire]

An Introduction to Arthurian Paganism

Hey, everyone! I’m back with another practice-related post. This time, we’re talking about Arthurian Paganism.

It should be noted that I am still researching and learning about the Arthurian Canon, and Tumblr’s #Arthuriana tag has been, unironically, extremely helpful. They have massive blog posts with links to copies of books that have been published and translated, abridged or unabridged, compilations and separate short stories, etc. which are becoming quite useful to me in my research. And for that, to the people who post and follow the Arthuriana tags, I say thank you. Your work—be it memes, academic compilations of sources, or artwork—has made this not only easier, but very fun.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about the Arthurian Pantheon, starting with what it exactly is at this point in my research and spirituality.

What is Arthurian Paganism and How did I get here?

The what and the how are where I want to start. Simply put, I think this is the easiest thing to understand before we go down the rabbit hole of me assigning correspondences, working with festivals, etc.

Plus, anyone, especially in the Western World, has some vague understanding of what the King Arthur story is about. This gives us some equal playing field for a good understanding of the jumping off point of my spiritual path with the Arthurian Pantheon.

So to begin, the Arthurian Pantheon is the characters of King Arthur Stories being honored as deities.

I stumbled across this accidentally when I was trying to worship the Lord and Lady of the Land. A lot of how envisioned these deities came across as King Arthur and Lady Morgan Le Fay—and I was quite intrigued and confused. I had done some honoring of Morgan Le Fay in the past, but not much, and yet could not shake the feeling that there was something here for me to explore.

And as a child, I was always in love with the King Arthur stories and retellings I came across.

It took me a few months to fully embrace, but, by the time Lunasdagh arrived, I began considering in earnest how to honor King Arthur and Lady Morgan within their respective mythos.

King Arthur Pendragon is a mythic King of Britain. While there’s no real historical evidence that states he was a real person, to my knowledge at time of writing, we can trace his story specifically back to Wales as a folk hero in the Mabinogion. Here Arthur is usually portrayed as a vaguely supernatural entity who helps other travelers on their quests.

One such notable one is of Arthur helping his cousin win the hand of a giantess in marriage, if I remember correctly.

His time as a Welsh folk hero is discussed, briefly, in the Mythillogical podcast’s episode on YouTube. The link can be found here.

This version of Arthur is quite different from what he will become, as he is a wanderer and has a lot more agency in these tales. King Arthur tends to lose a bit of focus and agency over the overarching story of Camelot as the Canon grows both in characters and gets codified over time.

This loss of agency or lack of focus, whichever you prefer to call it, reminds me quite a bit of the human life cycle. Arthur, as people add on to his legends starting with Geoffrey of Monmouth and his Welsh Counterparts going all the way up to the modern day, goes through the cycle of birth, childhood, young adulthood, adulthood, elder, death, and finally rebirth. He represents a very human experience—from making mistakes (sleeping with his sister Morgause and in a fit of regret and anger at what he did goes to try and drown every child born on May Day in order to not eventually die at the child’s hand) to just trying to be a genuinely good man and king (his attempts at trying to persuade his Knights and Lords to have Mercy on Queen Guinevere when she was falsely accused of murder and rightfully accused of adultery).

King Arthur is very human and that is necessary for a chief god of a pantheon that I believe in, because I could never get behind a perfect god or a supposed son of god who is meant to share a human experience to understand us better but yet simultaneously is meant to be perfect.

So King Arthur became a comfort as a chief god, even if I haven’t really worked with him yet.

I do say good morning to him every morning though, because I associate King Arthur with the sun.

I mainly got here through Lady Morgan Le Fay, though. She reached out to me about a year ago through a vision I had while working at my part time job. I saw myself following her through mists in an indigo cloak with silver embroidery. So I began to honor her the best I could—I even picked up the Mists of Avalon, and read it for a while, to get her perspective on Arthurian Canon. Then, as the stress of finding a full time job and then having two jobs all began to bubble up, I fell off.

(Which I will get back to the novel eventually. I’m going to be reading a lot of Arthurian books and romances for the foreseeable future.)

Recently, through the attempt at honoring the Lord and Lady of the Land, I found my way back to Lady Morgan. When I reach out to a goddess in divination, I ask for her. When I do my kitchen witchcraft, I do it in her name. When I think of making something for my craft, I think of making it for her.

I wanted to do this seriously and the best I can.

Doing so led to me realizing that it’s not just King Arthur and Lady Morgan who gained spiritual/magickal/etc. independent being status through the centuries of rewriting, retelling, and rediscovering the Arthurian tradition again and again. They all were alive in their own way. Entities in their own rights with their own domains and their own things to teach us, the characters of King Arthur’s stories are alive.

And I had that realization relatively recently. Just a bit before my “Sir Gawain Type of Day” post.

So that’s how I got here.

Now let’s talk about my recent experiences.

My Experiences with the Pantheon:

This section will be quite short as my experiences aren’t much in the grand scheme of things—and a few are a bit personal. The findings are rather few as of right now, but I am starting out and the Arthurian Pantheon as a whole requested that I focus on the research aspect first as a way to honor them before I do anything big like celebrate Sabbats and stuff.

Lady Morgan also reiterated this fact with me last week, and reminded me that I do need to practice patience with myself.

And I’m trying, promise.

For my experiences with the pantheon, I’ve mainly interacted with Lady Morgan. She helped me pass my excel certification exam which allowed me to get my current full time position, and I asked that of her because I thought I’d be quitting my part time job once I got a full time position. I would have more time for the craft, which I promised her that I would make. However, the current state of the economy, and the cost of living where I live specifically, required me to work both jobs in order to pay bills and save up for an apartment.

So, I never really kept up my end of the deal—despite trying to for a while.

Lady Morgan’s energy never seems to give much away about her emotions. I’ve only ever felt an ancient patience and kindness with her. Much like a dusty old library on a misty spring morning, Lady Morgan’s energy is that of learning the art of patience and being okay with waiting—leading you down the path at your own pace.

Her energy also is heavily linked to the moon, mists, and rainstorms from what I’ve found.

The moon is something that she always radiated to me. Lady Morgan guides the way through the night, providing light and guidance through moonlight and stars. The moon tends to show its phase in a very different way if I’ve just been speaking to Lady Morgan earlier that evening and the stars seem much brighter despite the light pollution.

In my limited dealings with Lady Morgan, I’ve also found that, if I did something she was particularly proud of, a morning mist greeted me the next day. I feel the most comfortable in the mists, especially in the morning, so I always appreciate that little treat.

Lord, or more accurately, King Arthur has a different energy that I am sometimes able to connect to in the mornings.

King Arthur’s energy to me is very much the sun. It’s bright and welcoming and even protective to an extent. He’s constant, strong, and reliable. I also associate him with stags, not only because of the whole White Stag search that may or may not have ruined his wedding to Queen Guinevere (depending on the version you’re reading), but also because deer are quite common where I live. Does are definitely more common than stags, yes, but the few times I see a Stag I just immediately think it’s King Arthur.

I think this association began with the Mists of Avalon. Especially when there’s a whole trial by deer that Arthur needs to go through in order to be accepted by the Tribes and it results in his son with Morgaine, Mordred.

Beyond that association, stags tend to be connected to nobility and dependability in our modern media symbolism shorthand, with the most prominent example coming to mind being Elijah Mikaelson from the Vampire Diaries extended universe. Elijah’s nicknamed the Noble Stag for being a Mikaelson the people can trust to keep his word to the letter. He usually acts as the consciousness of his brother, Klaus, and tries to put family above all else.

In my mind, King Arthur is much the same. His energy is that of a stag—a man who keeps his word, puts the people he loves before himself, and is a just king.

And, finally, I felt Sir Gawain’s energy once. I wrote a blog about it, just a small musing really. But to me Gawain’s energy is that of liminal tidings. His energy is soft and comforting as the wheel of the year turns and we shift from one season to the next. At Yuletide/Winter Solstice, he deals the blow to the Green Knight—which rings in the warmer half of the year. And at Litha/Summer Solstice, he faces the Green Knight once more to bring in the colder half of the year.

Possibly.

I think this may change as Sir Gawain is definitely a god of the seasons and their shifts, but I can’t tell if it’s Sir Gawain who rings in the different parts of the year, or if it’s King Arthur, or someone else I have yet to interact with, or no one in the pantheon at all.

But, for now, I will say it’s Sir Gawain and the Green Knight that ring in the colder and warmer halves of the year.

But that is the extent of my experiences with the Arthurian Pantheon thus far. I am reading up on them still, as a part of my research and way to honor them.

My Recent Findings on the Pantheon:

Through my research, as I currently read “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” as translated by Jessie Weston, I have found that King Arthur likes to hear stories of great feats from his knights and/or songs, or see a good game before he eats a feast, so that will be implemented during times I offer some food up to him. He also refuses to eat until everyone at court is sitting and served when hosting a grand feast, so if I invite people over I will try and do the same. King Arthur and The Knights of the Round Table love to have feasts with dried meats and honey wine ( AKA mead ).

When I get my apartment, I will practice making honey wine for libations to the King and his Knights.

My time browsing the Arthuriana tag on Tumblr, and the abridged version of Le Morte d'Arthur read by Derek Jacobi, indicated that Sir Gawain loves apples. So when I honor Sir Gawain specifically, I’ll see if I can make apples ready for the occasion.

The abridged version of Le Morte d’Arthur previously mentioned also pointed two days that I specifically took note of: Arthur’s birthday, being around December 24th, and Arthur’s king making which was on Candlemas, February 2nd. So I will definitely be celebrating Candlemas, and King Arthur’s birthday, which falls during Yuletide.

The Mists of Avalon audiobook that I’m listening to on Spotify indicates that Lady Morgan is knowledgeable in herb lore and is gifted with the Sight. So any form of herbalism and divination could be considered devotional acts to Lady Morgan. Or working with the Fair Folk, as in that telling of Arthurian canon has Lady Morgan descended from the Fae Folk of the British Isles.

And that’s all I have at the moment research wise. I haven’t had time to sit down and finish “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” in order to move on to the next pieces of Arthuriana on the docket.

Conclusion:

As you can see, I don’t have much in the way of research or experiences yet. Really, this Introduction to the Arthurian Pantheon is just me trying to get my thoughts and early findings down on paper so I can continue forward.

I really can’t wait to learn about and from this very large and very diverse pantheon.

I’m not even sure if I’ll get to everyone—or if this counts as Celtic or Pop Culture paganism! I tag it as Celtic since these stories tend to be leaning more Celtic in nature and its birth in the British Isles.

But I hope you guys enjoyed this introduction into the pantheon and my experiences with it! I’ll make a more comprehensive and scholarly introduction when I have more time, knowledge, and experience under my belt with the pantheon if necessary. For now though, this is where I end the introduction post.

Until next time!

[honeybadger-has-a-grimoire]

Y’all, just so you know, my next blog is currently being written in Google Docs and it is 1,161 words and counting. We’re getting a long one for an Intro To Arthurian Paganism. Just a heads up.

If you want to know anything specific for the time being, ask away! I’m all ears and I’d love to talk about my journey with it thus far!

[honeybadger-has-a-grimoire]

Lemon Ginger Infused Honey | Clover’s Cookbook

Hey everyone, it’s Clover here and this is the Lemon Ginger Honey Infusion!

Originally, this recipe was passed down to me through my mom who learned it from my paternal grandmother. We found around the time I was in third or fourth grade that over the counter medicine was starting to lose effect on me, so my grandma told my mom this recipe to see if it helps. And, to everyone’s relief, it did!

(Although, Mini Clover was not a fan of the taste originally—it’s grown on me immensely.)

My mom needed to tell me that it was “Magic Tea” to get me to drink it. And, after trying Theraflu a year or two later, I agreed that: “yes, it was magic because it was medicine that tasted better than anything else”. Now this infusion is my go-to cold cure.

(I also drank almost half of my batch that I made almost a year and a half ago when I was laid up in bed with the flu in March. That thing is very shelf-stable.)

Without any more preamble, here’s the recipe!

What you will need:

An airtight container

Fresh Lemons, I usually use three or four but it depends on the size of the container.

Fresh Ginger, I usually use a handful of ginger root but it depends on the size of the container.

Honey

How to make it:

1. Rinse and slice the lemons and ginger

You can shred the ginger if you like, but I usually slice it up whenever I use it. Shredding ginger takes a lot of time that I personally do not have—and our grater is a pain to wash.

2. Layer the sliced ginger and lemon on top of each other in the airtight container, getting as close to the top as possible.

I use an empty instant coffee container, if you want ideas for it. It is a bit larger than I need, since I’m the only one in the house that drinks this infusion when I’m sick, but the trade off is that I know it’s airtight and there will be enough for at least a year. You can use mason jars or any other airtight containers you have on hand. The old instant coffee jar is just my suggestion.

3. After layering the lemon and ginger in the airtight container, add the honey. You want to fill the honey all the way to the top of the container if possible. If you can’t, at least so it covers the top layer of the lemon-ginger tower.

You will probably be using all the honey in the bottle, just so you know. When I first did this myself, I was unaware how much honey I needed and had to go out and buy another bottle because the container was bigger than expected. So just a heads up.

4. Seal the airtight container and let sit out overnight then place it in the fridge a month before use.

So I was unaware until recently that, for max potency and a proper infusion of the ingredients, you want your honey infusions to sit for a month before use. I just ended up getting super lucky the past few times I made it because I replenish my infusion when the house runs out, not when I need it right away. So my suggestion is make it in late July or Early August, that way it sits the month and you have it for cold and flu season.

5. Add to your preferred tea when sick and drink it throughout the day. For me, doing this kicks whatever is brewing in my system—and usually works in about a day for the few people I’ve given the infusion to. But take it as long as you think you need it, you’re the only one who knows your body.

Why this works:

Lemon:

Lemon is high in vitamin C which helps boost the immune system and shorten the duration of colds.

Vitamin C is also helpful to lower your risk of heart disease and stroke (healthline.com), which aren’t important to this cold cure, but good to know anyway.

Hot Lemon Water is also good for sore throats and congestion in a 2008 study, as per medicalnewstoday.

Ginger:

Ginger is good for the gut as it helps settle stomachs, and the bitterness of the root kicks your digestive system into overdrive to clear out what the body considers to be possibly poison due to the taste (any Holistic Herbalism podcast episode where Ginger is involved).

Ginger’s anti inflammatory properties also help reduce pain and inflammation with a sore throat you usually get with a cold, as per this medicalnewstoday article (link here).

Ginger is also antiviral and antibacterial just like lemons are. So it helps get rid of any unwanted viruses or bacteria building up because of the cold, flu, etc.

Important note about ginger—if you or a loved one is on blood thinners don’t take ginger. Ginger’s chemical compounds will have a reaction with your blood thinners and make the blood super thin. This will cause excessive bleeding that is potentially life threatening.

Honey:

Honey is a natural cough suppressant and throat-soother. It is also antimicrobial. A Harvard Health article (link here) indicated that honey works well for upper respiratory viruses (such as a cold) and some studies observed that taking honey shortened the duration of the cold in some participants.

Conclusion:

Well that’s it! That’s my Lemon Ginger Honey Infusion that I have with my tea when I’m sick. My preference as a tea pairing with this concoction is usually Moroccan Mint, Peace of Mind Tea, or just normal green tea.

It depends on what we have in the house.

I usually pour it into the tea with the intent of helping me feel better soon as well. Just to add a boost of magick to an already great cold cure.

Have any of you tried this before? Do you have alternatives for this cold cure? If so, tell me!

Thank you all for reading and have a wonderful day!

[honeybadger-has-a-grimoire]

Just a Note—

I’ll make a post about my herbal cold infusions soon, probably after the Lemon Ginger Honey Infusion post and the Arthurian Paganism Post, but I needed to talk about this real quick…

Sometimes the gods surprise me with how they show that they hear me—and it’s slightly comical.

A week ago, I made a ginger-lemon-white peach cold infused water because my stomach was very cross with me. I ate a lot of foods that I am sensitive to… on top of the very diary heavy birthday cake for my boyfriend being eaten by a very lactose intolerant witch ( me, Clover, I’m the witch ).

So, at the end of last weekend, I made a ginger-lemon-white peach cold infused water to help repair the damage that I did to my stomach. As I did it, I dedicated the infusion to the Ladies Brigid and Morgana because it felt right to. And, in doing so, these lovely goddesses extended the use of the ingredients to about a week’s worth of cold infusions. I only threw out the ingredients today, almost a week later, out of fear of the possibility of mold growing on them or in the pitcher I was using.

My first thought was: “HOLY SHIT HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!” [insert Clover internal panic here]

My second was: “Oh, right, the gods. I need to write this down in my cookbook and do it again. Thanks Ladies!”

And then I immediately told people because I was low key in awe that it happened.

So yeah, thank you Lady Brigid and Lady Morgana for showing me that you heard me. It’s nice to see proof sometimes.

[honeybadger-has-a-grimoire]

The pictures don’t do it justice, but the moon last night was large and orange. I just sat there in awe and thanked Lady Morgana for letting me see one of the symbols I most associate with her.

[honeybadger-has-a-grimoire]

The pictures don’t do it justice, but the moon last night was large and orange. I just sat there in awe and thanked Lady Morgana for letting me see one of the symbols I most associate with her.