#native witches

[southernmermaidsgrotto]

I’m making a post on herbalism book recommendations and I’m coming short on indigenous authors, so if you have any book recommendations please send them my way! I’d love to be able to read more herbalism + botany works from native authors and latin american authors!!!

[indigaux]

Naomi Native depicted as Oshun, Yoruba goddess of love, beauty, and fertility

Created by A.J. Hamilton

[inkskinned]

i. about 2 weeks ago, i was told there's a good chance that in 5 or so years, i'll need a wheelchair.

ii. okay. i loved harry potter as a kid. i have a hypothesis about this to be honest - why people still kind of like it. it's that she got very lucky. she managed to make a cross-generational hit. it was something shared for both parents and kids. it was right at the start of a huge cultural shift from pre to post-internet. i genuinely think many people were just seeking community; not her writing. it was a nice shorthand to create connection. which is a long way of saying - she didn't build this legacy, we built it for her. she got lucky, just once. that's all.

iii. to be real with you, i still struggle with identifying as someone with a disability, which is wild, especially given the ways my life has changed. i always come up against internalized ableism and shame - convinced even right now that i'm faking it for attention. i passed out in a grocery store recently. i hit my head on the shelves while i went down.

iv. he raises his eyebrows while he sends me a look. her most recent new book has POTS featured in it. okay, i say. i already don't like where this is going. we both take another bite of ramen. it is a trait of the villain, he says. we both roll our eyes about it.

v. so one of the things about being nonbinary but previously super into harry potter is that i super hate jk rowling. but it is also not good for my mental health to regret any form of joy i engaged with as a kid. i can't punish my young self for being so into the books - it was a passion, and it was how i made most of my friends. everyone knew about it. i felt like everyone had my same joy, my same fixation. as a "weird kid", this sense of belonging resonated with me so loudly that i would have done anything to protect it.

vi. as a present, my parents once took me out of school to go see the second movie. it is an incredibly precious memory: my mom straight-up lying about a dentist appointment. us snickering and sneaking into the weekday matinee. within seven years of this experience, the internet would be a necessity to get my homework finished. the world had permanently changed. harry potter was a relic, a way any of us could hold onto something of the analog.

vii. by sheer luck, the year that i started figuring out the whole gender fluid thing was also the first year people started to point out that she might have some internalized biases. i remember tumblr before that; how often her name was treated as godhood. how harry potter was kind of a word synonymous for "nerdy but cool." i would walk out of that year tasting he/him and they/them; she would walk out snarling and snapping about it.

viii. when i teach older kids creative writing, i usually tell them - so, she did change the face of young adult fiction, there's no denying that. she had a lot more opportunities than many of us will - there were more publishing houses, less push for "virally" popular content creators. but beyond reading another book, we need to write more books. we need to uplift the voices of those who remain unrepresented. we need to push for an exposure to the bigotry baked into the publishing system. and i promise you: you can write better than she ever did. nothing she did was what was magical - it was the way that the community responded to it.

ix. i get home from ramen. three other people have screenshotted the POTS thing and sent it to me. can you fucking believe we're still hearing this shit from her when it's almost twenty-fucking-twenty-three. the villain is notably also popular on tumblr. i just think that's funny. this woman is a billionaire and she's mad that she can't control the opinions of some people on a dying blue site that makes no money. lady, and i mean this - get a fucking life.

x. i am sorry to the kid i was. maybe the kid you were too. none of us deserved to see something like this ruined. that thing used to be precious to me. and now - all those good times; measured into dust.

/// 9.6.2022 // FUCKING AGAIN, JK? Are you fucking kidding me?

[hagoftheholler]

Just a reminder that while you're protesting for abortion rights, the government is now going after the Indian Child Welfare Act and is attacking Indigenous sovereignty.

Not only is the United States government trying to take away tribal sovereignty, but they are also trying to force pregnant Indigenous women and two-spirited individuals to give birth and risk having their children stolen from them. This is an act of genocide. This is an act of forced assimilation. This is an act of cultural erasure.

So while you protest for your rights to choose to have an abortion, protest in favor of Indigenous people's sovereignty. Contact your state representatives. Pay attention to your state elections.

[forest-pixi]

[tvstvnvkke]

White sage

Contrary to popular belief, white sage, or even sage in general, was not used by every tribe. White sage has developed into the go-to "smoke cleansing" plant. However, this has led to a number of problems.

For the Muscogee tribe Sage as a plant was not commonly used. Cedar, Tobacco, and Ginseng were more commonly smoke cleansing plants. The word for Sage that I was told was "Vpvketv" which also means to add something. White sage would be "Vpvketv hvtke".

Today, white sage is commonly used to smudge. Packages can be purchased with a shell, feather, and a sage bundle to burn. Smudging, in the sense of using a shell to burn in and a feather to guide the smoke, was mostly a Dakota and Ho-chunk practice from what I know. With white sage specifically being native to lower modern-day California. The Cahuilla and Kumeyaay tribes are two who often use this plant. Smudging and white sage have both been taken up as practices among modern witches, pagan, Wiccan, and other spiritual groups. However, to anyone doing the practice, I highly recommend caution in continuing.

The modern practices of white sage harvesting are often harmful. The practices often leave the local environment poorly cared for. The plant is overly harvested by people generally paid very little and often with no consideration to the local communities that normally use the plant. The over harvesting has led to fears that the plant may go extinct if proper growing and harvesting techniques are not taken into consideration.

Another important aspect to consider is the spiritual aspect as well. If you are using white sage to purify the air, I would assume the hope is to clear away negative spirits or energies. I can not speak for all communities that smoke cleanse, but when smoke cleansing, you should use plants you were gifted or gather yourself. The intention when the plant is harvested affects whether or not it will clear away bad things. If you harvest it yourself thinking of how grateful you are for the plant, it will clean. If your friend harvests it thinking of how this will hopefully help someone, it will clean. If the person harvesting your plant is mistreated, in bad conditions, over harvesting a plant just to be underpaid. I feel like that may do the opposite of cleanse.

All around, it's just not a good idea. Be very mindful of who your practices come from and who your items come from. Look for answers online as to whether those communities welcome outside practicer or if your version of their practice is actually harming their ability to continue it.

I've heard debate on whether it's okay to purchase white sage from indigenous farmers. I would say if you're going to purchase it, that would be the best. I'm sure there are many indigenous people who sell it.

Be mindful of your practices. They could be harming you and other people.

[musingmelsuinesmelancholy]

Some things I’ve been thinking about. At times being an American trad witch is incredibly frustrating and at others it’s absolutely exhilarating, rewarding. Reconnecting with my ancestral ( primarily french and scottish ) lore, magical practices, witchcraft etc has and will continue to inform my practice but I’ll never be a “french” witch. I’ll never be a “scottish” witch. I can find a lone hawthorn or a sacred tree guarding a hidden spring to tie the cloutie to, I can divine via a snail’s mucus trail, Fly to the Sabbath to meet The Abbess, heed the Dame Blanches, pluck the golden bloom with songs to St Columba, safeguard me and mine via silver, spring water and juniper. Yet there’s many things I’ll never know or be able to do. Whether that’s because these things are so tied to the land or a specific place, language barriers, ( working to overcome this one ) or due to the ( well warranted) gate keeping of lore and practices.

This used to be a source of great confusion for me. I think because I was afraid( due to my previous new age fuckwittery ) to experiment, do anything other than what I understood as “traditional”. My understanding being too rigid at the time; the pendulum swung from one end of the spectrum to the other. This delayed my progress and “froze” me. I was left wondering what an “American” trad craft would look like; most our books do come from a European POV. Learning of our own magical traditions as well as those of my Canadian family ( still working on that one haha ) helped. Reading Robin Kimmere helped. Reading Schulke, him being an American and writing on American plants, helped too. I’ve come to know Sugar Maple and Plantain as powerful spirits. Both teaching important lessons on how to rectify my ancestors mistakes, to foster relations with the First Peoples and how to incorporate the magic of this land into my craft. Rather than being frustrated by my being American I see it as a challenge now. I get to explore spirits, plants, places, animals, spiritual/physical ecologies ( is even really a difference between these?) completely unknown to my ancestors. I get to reconcile the old and the new. To learn from Spirit Direct. Tradition isn’t the worship of ashes, it’s the preservation of Fire. New wood must be added to keep The Fire burning. The Devil of this land certainly is a spirit of the unknown.

I am the land, the land is me.

I don’t own it, to it I owe all.

To it my body will return, the tithe paid.

I’m not rolling hills of heather, white chalk cliffs, the monk’s island nor the azure coast. The memories of these places echo distantly in my blood, sung alive by my ancestors shades. Part of me they’ll always be; yet it’s not who I am. Not what I am.

I’m craggy shores, dull-jade waves bearing down upon the tired rocks. I am musky pine forests veiled in mist. Sun-venerating oaks hugging the shoreline. Bleeding alders in damp ground swelling. Proud maples sustaining generation upon generation with their boiled blood. Death-grey clay, exposed by running spring.

I am the kudzu, the itching moth, the knotweed, the Norway maple, the ivy wrecking havoc upon the land. My surname and light skin proof of a genocide ongoing. I am my ancestors sins; the specter of the Old Growth forests, their grief hanging over the land like a fog. Every interaction with The Land tinged with sadness, loss.

I am my maternal side’s copper curls. Melusine’s pride. Ave Landry! Ave Gauthier! Forebears mine.

I am my paternal side’s grief. The end result of decades of cultural warfare. The Jesuits stole our name….my hair will not be cut.

Never will I libate these glacier carved valleys with booze.

I am the plantain, learning a kinder way. The sumac reclaiming the orchard.

My Februarys, my Marches aren’t snow drops and daffodils peaking through the frozen ground. They’re steely skies and walls of sleet. Bloodroot heralds winters wane; not Brigid’s flower.

My June isn’t fields of poppies, it’s seas of crimson staghorn blooms skyward reaching.

My augusts aren’t golden shafts of wheat, swaying in summer’s last breaths; they’re explosions of neon-violet and honey-yellow. Corn ripening on the vine, supporting the climbing bean. The cicadas song reverberating.

Old Michaelmas marks harvest’s end, October potatoes long buried in soils darkness finally exhumed. The Devil his Rosy Briar to ascend and plunge.

With Novembers first snows the Dead come in.

I’ll never process around a standing stone nor know what it is to live and eat off the land my dead lay in. Finally, I’m learning to be at peace with this. To love and know the land I live on. I’ll always be a stranger here, a guest. I hope to be a good one.

[bestiarium]

The Stikini [Native American mythology; Seminole/Passamaquoddy mythology]

Owls inspire a certain sense of awe with their highly efficient nocturnal hunts, so it comes as no surprise that they have a role in some myths and folktales from around the world. In the religion of the Native American Muscogee and Seminole peoples, a Stikini was a malicious owl-like monster. The Muscogee people had a special dance called the StikinobAnga to ward off the evil Stikini, but they could also be fought with special ‘Stikini arrows’ which were equipped with owl feathers and featured grooves filled with medicinal herbs. Stikini used to be humans in life, but are now undead owl-creatures due to dabbling in witchcraft. I noticed they are sometimes translated as ‘witches’.

I found very few Native American descriptions of the exact nature and appearance of these monsters, but McElroy’s encyclopedia claims that the Stikini look like regular people during the day. When night falls, they vomit out their own entrails before hanging them in trees and transforming into horrible owl monsters. They then set out to hunt, and exclusively eat still-beating human hearts. If they ever go a full night without consuming at least one heart, they die. At dawn, they ingest their entrails to transform back into humans.

An often-cited interview with Lucinda Davis, a former slave from a Muscogee owner, claimed that the Native American Muscogee people associated owls with death and often perceived the birds as deathly omens. Whenever someone heard the noises of a screech owl, it was thought that somebody among them would soon perish. Supposedly, these owls could often be heard during funerals.

The Stikini is related to this belief, and the word ‘Stikini’ was also used to refer to screech owls.

Interestingly, it is believed that African folklore influenced the Muscogee story of the Stikini. The Passamaquoddy people, too, knew a version of this creature that they called the Chebelakw (or Cipelahq). And old Passamaquoddy song describes how the monster, along with the spirits of the land and the water would cease their doings to listen to the sound of the singer’s drum.

The powerful wind spirit k’Cheebellock is also related to this creature: he has long legs, mighty wings, and a head but no body. In one Passamaquoddy story, k’Cheebellock takes a liking to two young girls who were taking a walk. He grabs them and lifts them high into the air to carry them to his world, which is a strange place even above the sky. But the girls soon became homesick and cried to be returned to their world. Eventually, k’Cheebellock gave in and took the two back to the world below. But the forest where he landed was vast, and his wings were too large to reach the ground through the thick canopy. So he left the girls on a hemlock. The girls noticed Leux, a local folk character, and begged him to help them. He replied that he was far too busy and left them to their fates.

Later, though, Leux came by once more and the girls called out to him again. Leux agreed to help them down, but on the condition that one of the girls would become his wife. But the girls were clever and tied a hairband to the tree. Once back on solid ground, they demanded that Leux took the hair band back if one of them was to marry him. He tried, but the girls had tied a very tight knot so it took him a long time to collect the hair band.

When at last he climbed down from the tree, the girls had finished their preparations and blinded him. They then called out to him to follow them, and so tricked him to walk right into a river. After climbing back on dry land, Leux heared the voices of the girls again and follows them, only to step on a trap made of porcupine quills. He then tried to rest, but when he awoke he found that the girls were nowhere to be found.

Sources: Layman, M. M., 1989, Utilization of Traditional Health Care Systems by the Native Population of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, a thesis submitted to the faculty of graduate studies and research in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Native Studies, University of Saskatchewan. No author listed, 1890, A Story of Leux, The Journal of American Folklore 3(9), p.270-270. Pasierowska, R.L., 2017, “Screech Owls Allus Holler ‘round the House before Death”: Birds and the Souls of Black Folk in the 1930s American South, Journal of Social History, 51(1), p. 27-46. McElroy, D.R., 2020, Superstitions: A Handbook of Folklore, Myths and Legends from around the World, Bok Sales, p. 91, 192 pp. Prince, J.D., 2021, Passamaquoddy Texts: Volume X, Publications of the American Ethnological Society, Drugulin, Germany. (image source 1: Audre ‘Charamath’ Schutte. You can buy a print of this artwork or browse the artist’s other works on charamath.com) (image source 2: Kim Declercq on Artstation)

[nativecutie4u]

If you feel like something is missing in your life its probably me💋

[ladyimaginarium]

𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐥 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠

𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭: Pile 1 with the pink "do not touch me" rabbit pin & Pile 2 with the hot pink "final girl" pin!

𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬: Use your intuition to pick a card and/or a pin that calls to you most, then scroll to the bottom and find your pile(s) to receive your message!

𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐫: take what resonates, leave the rest of what doesn't & don't force anything if it doesn't fit your situation, keep in mind that energy and outcomes can always change & nothing is forever set in stone, you have free will in every choice you make !! keep in mind that this is a general collective reading so the messages here may not apply to everyone. as a general message: my readings are for entertainment purposes only and don't replace professional medical/legal/business help. feedback and a review after a reading is given, whether public or private, is obligatory. you can do that by reblogging, dming or emailing us privately on the matter. if you do not provide this, you will be added to my greylist and won't be given anymore readings, free or paid, until you give feedback which you can fill out in the form listed down below. keep in mind it's more than okay to pick more than one pile if you feel you have messages in other piles but for this reading I'd suggest just picking one! don't just leave this in the likes, reblog and support your tarot readers, my time and labour aren't for free. while it isn't necessary, if you'd like to tip, my paypal's below. I have personal paid readings available which you can fill out the form below so tips, bookings & feedback are highly appreciated considering i plan to do this for a living!

BOOK A READING | FEEDBACK FORM | TIP JAR

𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐬 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝: Dreaming Cat Tarot & The Barkana Tarot.

Pile 1: You have Six of Swords, Seven Of Cups, Ace Of Wands, Queen Of Pentacles, Seven Of Pentacles & The Magician !! I& feel as if it's possible at least some of y'all could be going on a trip this month !! I& usually don't get that for the Six of Swords but with the cats here on a boat going over the river I& feel as if this may be applicable to some of you. Maybe you'll be going with family member or somewhere with your kid(s), if you're a parent, because I& can't help but notice the kitten here. If you're traveling lemme know where y'all are going, I'm& curious !! You may be leaving behind a cycle or a connection that no longer serves you. With the Seven Of Cups I& feel as if you'll be getting many opportunities, especially creative opportunities to flesh out your passions. You could also be getting a lot of career or romantic options if that's what you're looking for & that's awesome !! You could also potentially be daydreaming & manifesting a lot whether you intend to or not, but make sure to choose carefully, especially if you have several options that may overwhelm you !! I& feel like for the majority of you, though, this is going to be creative opportunities.

With the Ace Of Wands, you may be receiving a creative spark which just connects to the Seven of Cups as I mentioned earlier & get new inspiration to start your creative projects with new passion & enthusiasm, but these could also be offers of love & sex, particularly on the more sensual side of things, if that resonates with you. If you're asexual & you're sex repulsed, though, don't worry, this is likely just a new initiative !! Hell, you could even be getting candy from a friend. Maybe for some of y'all it's around your birthday? If so, happy birthday my Aries Suns !! Whatever this opportunity is, take it !! Don't self sabotage yourself !! The Queen Of Pentacles showing up is extremely interesting as this showed up for a reading I& did for a dear friend of mine& for their birthday so if you're reading this, hi Els !! & for the rest of you, y'all could be out here sitting real pretty on your throne living lavish for a bit, y'all could be just enjoying what you've gathered for yourself & to that I& say SLAYYYYY !! You don't have to be a woman to have the Queen of Pentacles energy, everyone has feminine energy btw !! The Seven Of Pentacles just further confirms the Queen Of Pentacles energy as that card represents your harvest, rewards & results of your hard work !! So for some of y'all this month you could be getting a reward for something you did !! That's amazing, y'all !! Although we have all the elements in the suit of swords (representing air), cups (representing water) & wands (representing fire), there's a LOT of Earth energy in this spread with the pentacles !! The number 7 could be significant to you, too, as there's two Sevens in this spread.

Finally, we have The Magician !! Omg look at you, Pile 1 !! You're number 1 !! It's as I& said earlier in the Seven of Cups, you could very well be on your way to manifesting this or even have already manifested whatever you goal you wanted in your life !! Some of y'all could've even used specific manifestation techniques or used the law of attraction or even magick & witchcraft or just a simple prayer to whatever deity you pray to if that's applicable or even just your sheer willpower. I& can't help but notice the infinity symbol & I& feel called to say this but some of y'all could be neurodivergent, specifically autistic, especially because there's a lot of golden symbolism here in this card, but you don't have to be !!

All in all, I& don't think this gonna be a super eventful month for you, Pile 1, specifically because most of these are in the Minor Arcana & that represents your day to day everyday life rather than lifechanging or otherwise major events in your life. With that said, that's all I& have for your reading, Pile 1, thank you so much for being here & have a lovely day !! <3333

Pile 2: You have Queen Of Cups, Ace Of Wands, Ten Of Swords, The Hermit, The Chariot & Strength. I& feel that for the vast majority as if this already happened whether this was recent or for some of you maybe even years ago, particularly the first half of this reading so for some of you I'm& getting this could've been a relationship, romantic, platonic, familial or otherwise that you gave all your heart to, because the Queen Of Cups indicates a very warm & loving, generous person & The Ace Of Wands (which showed up in Pile 1, btw!) indicates an action & an offering, & in return you got The Ten Of Swords which indicates a tremendous loss, ruin, failure, bitterness, betrayal, victimization, collapse & exhaustion. Oh no y'all...

Someone could've walked away from you or you yourself could've walked away from a situation or a relationship (which is what I'm& getting for most of you) that no longer served you. Maybe this person betrayed you in some way or they just weren't giving the way you gave to them or maybe they were emotionally unavailable for whatever reason. I& very much intentionally do not channel toxic or otherwise abusive relationships into my& readings so I& don't think this was an abusive relationship, just someone that could've really broke your heart. For most of you, this was a romantic relationship but for some of you it could've been a platonic or familial relationship, because, contrary to popular belief, friends & family can break your heart, too !! That's really rough, I'm& so sorry. You didn't deserve any of that. Oh... I'm& getting a channeled lyric from Waco, Texas by Ethel Cain where she said "Held you in my arms / I swore that I'd be good to you / and then sat and watched as you walked away from me / Christ is cruel but you're so crueler" so that song or the artist Ethel Cain may be significant to you. Jfc y'all this one's REALLY heartbreaking. This could be a separation of a soulmate connection or a twin flame connection (& I& don't throw around twin flames lightly because that's a very rare type of soul connection!!) Ironically, I'm& also processing a relationship in April that went wrong years ago... so idk, maybe I& needed this message & I& think this is my& reading, too, ehehe.

Regardless of your situation I& need you to know that how someone treats you or lack thereof doesn't define your worth as an individual. I& want you to try & store that Queen of Cups energy into yourself. It doesn't have to be fancy bubblebaths (but if you wanna go ahead!!) & candles, but I& want you to have compassion for yourself. If you can & it's warm where you are, go to the beach & play a bit like the dog in the Ace Of Wands here !! The Hermit indicates a moment of solitude to process & think, spend time alone with yourself & do things you like to do. Btw, stop doomscrolling. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it right now or I'm& bonking you with a stick. (/lh). The Hermit is ruled by Virgo so that may be significant & the number 9 could be significant. Just understand that there's a light ahead of the tunnel like the cute puppy here has with the lantern in The Hermit card !! This puppy wants you to know how loved you are !! The Chariot indicates movement & going forward & Cancer, whether you're a Cancerian or have those placements and/or your person does may be significant as The Chariot is ruled by Cancer. I'm& getting that if you can & you have a vehicle, literally drive around !! Go to a place you like !! Go to a retreat if you have the means to do so !! Maybe even go on a roadtrip with your friends !! Alternatively, your friends could be taking you out to cheer you up. Finally, we have Strength !! Look at you, Pile 2, you're like a lion, untamed & fierce !! Some of you could even be lionkind if you're otherkin, maybe you have a lion fursona, maybe some of y'all like The Lion King or maybe you may wanna watch that movie if you wanna receive some subliminal messages or you may just like lions in general. For some of y'all I'm& getting you're asoiaf/game of thrones fans & y'all may like the Lannisters, I& have no idea why that's coming in so I& guess that could resonate with someone ehehe. I& need y'all to understand that you're stronger than you know !! Strength is arguably the fiercest card in the deck, people gotta watch out for you, Pile 2 !! Y'all got this so go SLAY !!

This seems much more eventful than Pile 1. With that said, that's all I have for you for this reading, Pile 2, thank you so much for being here & have a lovely day!

[oliviarosaline]

Ozark Witch-Hazel

Hamamelis vernalis

This species of witch-hazel requires a winter freeze to bloom and is endemic to the Ozarks in Missouri, Arkansas, and parts of eastern Oklahoma.

Feb. 6th, 2023

Augusta, St. Charles County, Missouri, USA

Olivia R. Myers

@oliviarosaline

[ravensvalley]

#HalloweenStuff

Mountainous Parts of the Northern Hemisphere.

[southernmermaidsgrotto]

A beginner guide to tea blending 🌿

⚠️This is meant to be a simple guide based on my own research and experience, by all means, educate yourself further and double check everything before proceeding!⚠️

First, define your intention or goal for this blend: what medicinal properties do you want to extract from these plants? You should know the medicinal value and effects of each plant separately before trying them out together and finding out how they interact with each other. Similarly, taste all the herbs separately before putting them together to get a better tasting blend. You’ll have to find a good balance between:

the right dosage of each herb to get their medicinal value,

the taste of said herbs to your liking,

the right dosage to avoid any possible side effects.

The herbs that cause the main desired effect should take up to 70% of the blend. 

One type of effect can be based on which system you want to work in (if the herbs all have similar positive effects on immune, circulatory, digestive, or other systems, like for example calming nerves or easing digestion). The other would be a nourishing effect (if the effects on each system cancel each other and thus you’re only taking in the nutrients, like minerals and vitamins, of the herb). The first kind would all have herbs that work together towards a common goal, the second would have effects that counteract each other so you only absorb their nutrients.

Then you’ll have supporting herbs, up to your 20%, that either boost the good medicine, and/or relief possible side effects of the main herbs.

Depending on the effects each plant has on your body, you’ll want them to boost each other or counteract each other. Also take into account if it’s an overall cooling or warming effect, boosting or slowing down metabolism, if it dries or moistens the tissues with minerals and fluids, and whether it’s relaxing or constricting/toning in tissues aswell. 

Last should be possible catalysts. These are optional, but recommended. That would be up to 10% of stimulant herbs that boost metabolism or enhance the overall effects of  the others, to really get all the good stuff into your body.

Some good examples of catalysts are ginger root, cayenne or licorice root, but be careful with licorice as it can be toxic in high amounts!

To give you an example of how I’d put everything into practice: if my goal is to make a tea blend that’s toning, rich in minerals and vitamins and strengthens the immune system, I’d use 5 parts stinging nettle, 2 parts lemon balm (for the main effects), 2 parts thyme (supporting), and 1 part ginger root (catalyst), then sweeten to taste. Parts can be grams, teaspoons, or smaller measures, depending on how much blend you want to prepare. If you’re going to try this blend, do this exercise: research each plant, it’s medicinal value and side effects, and you’ll find out why I put them together! 

Also, I personally love the taste of stinging nettle, yet someone else may prefer to use 5 parts of lemon balm and 2 parts of stinging nettle instead and get a slightly different result, more soothing to the nervous system, try it for yourself and always check for the effects and right dosages. I normally measure each part as grams, and this formula gives me around 2-3 liters of infusion, depending on how strong you make it. That is, using dry herbs, if you’re using fresh plant material you’ll need more grams. Normally 1 teaspoon of dry herb equals 1 tablespoon of fresh herb, or 1 part dried equals 3 parts fresh, but there may be slight differences between each plant depending on how much water it contains.

Finally, write everything down! The formula, how it worked for you and what it tastes like.

Thanks for reading ♡

[callunavulgaris]

[misspjsuperior]

The symbol of the essence of creation, often expressed in the simple form of the vesica piscis. According to Christian legend God incarnate himself, like each of us, was born to die. And not of some vapor, not descended from the heavens fully formed, but of the flesh and blood of a human body as a helpless baby, an animal among other animals, apes that we are. There is magic in the mundane. There is a sanctity beyond the golden halls of the great papacy that cannot be tainted by the water, swear, blood, and shit of impoverished birth in the mud and straw of the barn. That which is deemed filthy is where the holy persists the most gloriously.

Maria Rosa

t shirt

illustrated and modeled here by PJ Superior

https://misspjsuperior.etsy.com/listing/1602708745

[mypieceofculture]

Animal Witch Aesthetics // Cougar Witch

Requested by @lazydeity Ceramic incense holder by ZEME Ceramics

See all my aesthetics here: Directory