Protection Tea

I had a request from a friend to help her protect herself psychically at her job. I believe she was looking for a little spiritual guidance, and that is fine, I have loads of that, but I like things to be grounded and supported by earthly things, plants in particular.
So does she.

For awhile I was anticipating the work to prepare something amazing for her and as is usual for me as soon as I started to think about it, not in a sacred space anymore than my kitchen at dinnertime can be, I began reaching for herbs and putting them together and seeing the work in my mind's eye even as vegetables sat partially prepared on the cutting board.

But really, this is how magic is for me. Right there all the time. No bells and whistles needed or wanted. I bore easily and don't have time for all the geekery of your standard magical practice.

Here are the herbs I chose, the herbs that asked to be in the blend:

Elderberries - protective, connects to old ways/ancestors, forest mother, responsibility

Roses - protective (thorns), connects to mother mary/guadalupe, astringent (helps to keep you in you, less room for others to get to you), love, love and peace
Orange Peel - radiance of the sun, courage, power, remember the skin is protecting your flesh/family/that which is under the skin, AND the skin (peels) are super magic and can symbolize your work self
Chamomile - a sweet little delicate looking flower that is a complete powerhouse. looks can be deceiving. this plant is calming and soothing like a little badass grandma
Licorice Root - just a smidge to ground the blend and to sweeten it up.

I would stay away from plants the bees especially love (lavender, mints) at work unless you want to be swarmed.

I would use this tea for anyone who would like support with boundaries and protection.
Drink it with intention or not, the plants are magic whether or not you believe in them or not.
Of course, intention is it's own kind of medicine and can be a big helper in getting you what you want and need.

Best wishes and much love

Potion Making - Purification

The Purification Potion can be used to purify, clear and bless a space or a person in offices, clinics, cars and homes.
Magical Herbs
Rosemary - clears the mind as well as spaces, reminds one to stay present
White Sage - clears and dispels negativity
Cedar - clears while making a channel back for positivity and healing to flow back in
Lavender - gently purifies with love and peace
Bay - protective and visionary
Sea Salt - helps remove any unwanted psychic residue
Magic Stone
Clear Quartz Crystal is used to amplify the purifying qualities of the herbs in this potion, yet all on it's own it's clarifying, balancing and powerfully protective.
Elemental Magic
I burn Copal while making this Potion. Copal is amazing. Although I do add a bit of copal to the potion for its energetics, to really activate its energy fire is needed. Copal is a tree resin, alike in many ways to amber resin. It's lovely and fragrant in its softer crystalline stage before it hardens like a rock. The scent is released when burned on charcoal. It is a strongly purifying resin that has been used as such for hundreds, if not thousands of years.
Particularly Recommended for:
Those in service based jobs
Massage therapists
Counselors
Teachers
Retailers
Caregivers
Parents
When to use:
When you enter your space and it feels not quite right
Before a party to equalize the energy; to make it more welcoming
After a party or gathering to bring it back to a more neutral ground
When you arrive at work and don't feel ready to be there
After someone leaves your space and you feel uncomfortable
After you have had an argument or conflict
Before you go into meetings where you want to communicate clearly
When you are unsure of what to do next
Spray in doorways to bless those who walk through, including yourself
What else?
In some ways this is the simplest Potion, with the simplest ingredients that asks the least of me.
It's like rosemary itself; it's readily available, most everyone likes it, it goes with everything and it can do no harm.
Like the plant, the potion can be used in a million ways. When I'm not sure which potion is needed, I start here. If more is needed then the Purification Potion clears the way for me to know what is needed next.

Potion Making - Beginnings

I began with the Purification Potion about 8 years ago. It was part of a year long project that I embarked on where I focused on one plant and one goddess for each month for a year.
Rosemary was one of the monthly herbs.
During the month, I made different tea blends, studied historical uses, burned it, made hair rinses, wreaths, face scrubs and steams and so on.
It was during this time that it seemed like wherever I went people would be smudging, which is all well and good except that it didn't seem to mesh well with the elderly, the sensitive and allergic. Generally burning herbs indoors causes people to cough and makes many uncomfortable.
I love the idea of using herbs to purify. My stand-by for my own smudging at that time was sage, rosemary & lavender.
At our house smudging is done seasonally, like deep cleaning and I always open all the doors and windows.
I wanted to come up with a way to have the benefits without the harm.
A "smokeless smudge" was what I called it.
I brewed together
Rosemary - clears the mind as well as spaces, reminds one to stay present
White Sage - clears and dispels negativity
Lavender - gently purifies with love and peace
and a few other herbs with the intention of purification, put a little alcohol in it to keep it from going funky and put in in a spray bottle and voila! it was a smokeless smudge.
I liked it so well, and it worked so well, that I added it to the line of my home based herbal business Bliss Botanicals (no relationship to current online entities) and it became very well loved by customers as well.
When the time came for me to take the next step in my business it seemed that perhaps I should make more Potions.
I sat with this idea for days, scribbling ideas into my notebook.
Should I make 3 or 5?
Should they relate to elements? Earth-Air-Fire-Water?
Should they relate to deities? Planets? Colors?
I had enough inspiration and ideas for dozens of Potions. It wasn't hard to come up with lots of ideas, the hard part was narrowing it down.
Of course, there had to be a Love Potion, but I wanted it to be different than the cliched aphrodisiac potion of bad movies and old songs.
Money spells are often desired and a money potion was a contender.
A Luck Potion?
In a way it's like naming a baby. You come up with a bunch of great names and then you narrow it down to names that fit your family and then to the one that belongs to your baby. The name that was theirs all along that you just had to discover.
The Potions made themselves known and guess what?
They fit none of the boxes that would be easy to describe them.
Earth - Grounding
Fire - Empowering - Sun
Center - Purification - Clearing
Heart - Love
Moon - Perception
They are so lovely and I am honored to do this work.

Empowering Potion

Everyone loves the Empowering Potion.
It's been by far the most popular of our sprays but sadly, we've been sold out of it for months!
It's tricky to make a sun infused, sun inspired Potion in Oregon.
Each of the potions have their very own needs and desires and the Empowering Potion needs and desires Sun and lots of it.
7 plus days of as full sun as possible.
It's a hard feat for most of the Portland year.
I also need to have the space set up just so and have all the ingredients on hand before brewing.
For everyone who has been coming in each week asking about the potion and the girls at the store asking me when I'll be making some more already?
Well, it's finally happened.
Summer Solstice was a clear and auspicious day to brew and now it's already bright and hot at 9am, with tomorrow expecting to reach near 100 degrees, this will be a powerful batch.
The last time everything aligned for this potion was in August of 07.
It looks like the next many days will continue to be perfect weather, but I'm glad it's already made, because I'll be in herb camp all next week and any potions being made will be with the children.
xo

Purification & Protection Potion for Spring Cleaning:

The weather this week has gone from sunny to cloudy to hailstorm to rainbows then drizzle and cycling around in enough variations for anyone to see that it’s spring in Portland.

Today was a rare sunny and dry day for a May Day festival complete with ribboned May pole dancing.

I decided it must be time to do some spring cleaning.

My intention was to actually clean the floors but also to purify and protect the space in a deep cleaning spring cleaning sort of way.

I began by making a strong tea with

Rosemary for protection, for remembering what is good and for clarity

Hawthorne, very strongly protective, because of the thorns and it’s especially powerful this time of year, it is the “branch of May” from fairy tales and the scent of the flowers is old and wise, (a lot of people think it stinks)

and a bit of

Sea salt for good measure. Sea salt is the ultimate purifier.

Oh yeah, I used red roses

Roses invoke love, that’s what we want, love is all you need.

After I gathered the herbs, I brought them to a simmer in a big pot of water, then turned off the heat, covered and steeped for twenty minutes.

In the meantime, I filled a bucket with a couple tablespoons of dish soap, I use Ecover, but whatever you have will do.

If you want to try this and you don’t have all the ingredients listed, just wing it and trust your instincts.

There are a few things we say again and again in classes and especially in Herb Camp and “Wing It” is one of them. You often just have to make due with what you have. Think of it as a creative process.

Life is complicated enough, don’t stress just use some salt, parsley and rosemary from your kitchen, a blackberry leaf from the alley and some of your will.

You get the idea.

So, the recipe:

Equal parts (I used a big handful. You could use a teaspoon if you like):

hawthorne leaves and flowers

rosemary leaves

roses

and a pinch or two of salt

Put it all in a big pot of water, bring to a boil, turn off heat, cover and steep 20 minutes or longer

strain the herb mixture into your mop bucket (you can use a colander if you made a lot)

add

2 tablespoons dish soap in a bucket

Fill with warm water, set your intentions and get to work

As you mop, either old-school on your hands and knees the way my grandma taught me or the modern way, think of all that you want to be released (washed away) and all that you want to invite in.

Hum, sing, say your prayers, whatever feels right, but stay in the moment. Take your time.

Perhaps the most important thing is to dispose of the dirty water as soon as your work is done.

Pour the dirty water down the sink or in the toilet then rinse the mop & bucket and wash your hands twice. Once for the dirt and once for letting go of any last things.

Taking a shower would even be better.

Good job.

xoxo

*do a patch test to make sure this won’t stain your floors