MINDFUL MONDAY

 Merry Meet, friends!

Blessed Be!

~ Rain

TOOLS FOR WITCHES SERIES - Herbs/ Plants/ Garden

 Merry Meet, friends. Happy Tuesday!

Another essential tool in any witch's cabinet are the herbs. Plants on a window sill or an entire garden, Their medicinal properties as well as their connection to the elements are important in our practice.

Courtesy of Cristina Ferringno - Pixabay

I want a real witch's garden at some point. I intend to make it happen next spring after I revamp the garden this fall. I have three books on my shelf that have been there for years. Two of my favorites are by Kate West. The Real Witches' Garden and The Real Witches' Kitchen. I'll link everything down below with both Llwellyn and Amazon links where available. The other is Garden Witchery by Ellen Dugan (Book 1 in a series).That one also includes a gardening journal. I'd probably photocopy those and put in my garden planner. I'm not a fan of writing in the actual books. I think it would have been nice if she'd printed a gardening journal companion. I did notice she has an entire series dedicated to Garden Witchery so be sure to check out her page on Amazon.

One of the best things, for me, is the patience required to nurture plants and put my own energy into the plants. Whether I intend them for spells or for cooking, I like knowing where the plant came from and that the energy I've infused into its growth will further empower the use. 

You'll often find fresh herb plants at a local farmer's market or even in a big box store. For dried herbs, there are several options both in the big box store, natural food stores and on-line. When shopping on-line, please pay attention to any reviews. Sometimes, at the very bottom of the website home page, you can see how long they've been in business. Also try Etsy or Ebay and look at the reviews. Just type 'dried herbs' in the search bar of any of those last two for a plethora of options. My only concern with purchased dried as opposed to growing my own I'm not always sure how 'fresh' the ingredients are. That said, I do understand that we may not always have the ability to grow our own. 

Keep in mind... your herb garden can be as small as a few pots on your window sill, pots on the deck, or table in front of a sunny window. You don't need a large plot of ground to have an herb garden.

I plan to do an entire series on the individual herbs so stay tuned. I just wanted to get you thinking. If you have herbs you keep on hand, please leave them in the comments below and I'll be sure to include them in the Gardening series this fall.

Here are those promised links:

Ellen Dugan Amazon Page - LINK  (Note: she also writes witchy fiction!)

Garden Witchery by Ellen Dugan - LINK  - Llewellyn Link        

Kate West Amazon Page - LINK

The Real Witches' Kitchen - LINK 

The Real Witches' Garden - LINK 

Blessed Be!

~ Rain

MINDFUL MONDAY

Merry Meet, friends!

Our thought for the day:

Blessed Be!

~ Rain

TOOLS SERIES - Journals and Book of Shadows

 Merry Meet, friends!

Today we're talking about journals as well as our Book of Shadows.

Photo courtesy of garten-gg

Pixabay

I've kept journals in some form since I was young. I think I got my first lock & key diary about the age of ten. I still have that journal. I also have journals that I have made and written in off and on over the years. Journals are an important way to track the changes in our lives but also for keeping notes about spell work. What the conditions were during the spell work, tools used, notes of what did (or did not) work, and thoughts on the over-all process.  These journals are not your book of shadows, though you could keep some of the same information in them. They are more for education, and even sometimes, venting. Places to let out your thoughts no one else needs to know. 

 

You can use anything for your journals. They can be notebook paper in a binder, a composition notebook, a plain journal from the store or one you've made. They can be permanently bound or put together like a traveler's notebook where you have one cover but can add in new pages as you fill them up.

While you can do the same for a Book of Shadows (BOS for short), or Grimoire, when I think of a BOS as more of a recipe book. I have a couple of videos to share from witches I follow on YouTube. They both have great videos on starting a Book of Shadows.

Natural Witchery - Grimoire Making Books, Materials, and Resources.

The Way of the Witch - Starting A New Book of Shadows

If you're really in to creating a junk journal style, check out the following video from Priscilla 

@Releasethecraftin. I believe this is one she made/ sold but you'll get some ideas.

Junk Journal Grimoire

For the longest time I didn't think I could make beautifully artistic pages then I saw a video where a witch uses one of those tracer projectors and blends different images into a cohesive page design. That may be in the second link. I've not watched them in awhile.

I've not watched all of this video but looks interesting. We can discover this one together.

SpiritSpellsMagick - Book Binding a Book of Shadows For Beginners

That should keep you busy. In the mean time, please let me know in the comments if you have a Book of Shadows, a Grimoire, or have you held off starting one for some reason.  Let's inspire and encourage one another.

Blessed Be!

~ Rain

MINDFUL MONDAY

 Merry Meet, friends!

A new month full of promise. Like each day, each month and each phase of the wheel can be a new beginning. 

Blessed Be!

~ Rain

TOOL SERIES - Reference

 Merry Meet, friends!

Aside from ourself, I think one of the best tools a witch can have in his/ her arsenal is a great reference library. Whether you build hard copies on your book shelf or internet sights you trust, Having a place to look something up that is unfamiliar to you is a must. 

Face it, my witchy friends... we don't know everything. I know, surprised, right? 

Image by Jarmoluk - Pixabay

I have a vast collection of books that I value. However, I do not count on just one to give me the information I'm searching for. I will go through several, searching for consistencies in what I want to know. If I come across a piece in one book that doesn't jive with at least two others, than I discount the information and move on. You will find inconsistencies. That's okay. Part of the information is gleaned from other sources to write one book, while others will impart their own 'wisdom' into the topic. 

I have sources I trust. Here is a short list (in no particular order) and Amazon links when I could find them:

Scott Cunningham

Silver RavenWolf 

Deborah Blake

Kate West

Silja

Dorothy Morrison

Please tell me in the comments below what your favorite reference books are. I'd love to add to my bulging book shelves!

Okay, books aside, there are also some great YouTube sights as well as websites. I've linked to many on previous blog posts. 

A couple of my favorite Youtubers are:

The Witches Cookery. She is so relaxing to watch and informative on basic things. I wish I had the ability to attend one of her annual gatherings. 

The Green Witch She also has a VIDEO sharing her favorite books.

The Witch of Wanderlust Olivia is very relaxed. I love her forest wanderings.

Forest + Fawn though she hasn't done any videos since having her baby a couple of years ago. The little tyke keeps her busy!

Please share any YouTubers you love in the comments below. I love meeting new people.

Blessed Be!

~ Rain

MINDFUL MONDAY

 Merry Meet, friends!

Another month comes to a close. We can still look forward to hot weather here in the Northern Hemisphere but we are so close to another turn of the Wheel.

Blessed Be!

~ Rain