incense – Melusina The Green Witch

The Void….

It’s been a while since I’ve written a post on here! Mundane life got in the way, so sorry about that! Here’s a short post I’ve been thinking of writing for a while to get me back in the swing of posting more regularly.

When we cleanse or banish something, it leaves a void, or an empty space, where we have removed any negativity, bad feelings, bad habits or even harmful spirits or entities.

However, hardly anyone realises this or even talks about it like it’s an actual thing. This in itself can be dangerous or perilous, as you run the risk of that void filling up again with something negative or untoward, or you find yourself slipping back into those bad habits or letting the negativity creep back in.

This is likely to happen, unless you actively do something or create something full of love and positivity to take the place of what you have cleared or banished.

Therefore, once you’ve undertaken your spell, ritual, spiritual activity or other workings, you should find something to fill that void space with something that is positive, happy or full of light.

Some ways to go about this would be to light some incense that makes you feel happy, relaxed and loved, like jasmine or rose, or even spray some Florida Water around your space.

Or, you could run yourself a ritual bath to unwind in, with salts and oils, even flower petals and sliced citrus fruits, to help you to cleanse your body and soul and, in turn, allow your positive vibes to fill up that void space.

You can even do something as simple as make yourself a tasty fruit or herbal tea, sweetened with honey or agave syrup, which may help you to raise your vibrations within your space and fill that void with light so nothing dark can creep in again.

Etsy Shop – Now Open

I’ve set up my Etsy shop again and will be selling the following items:

• Crystals;
• Spell jar earrings;
• Spell jar pendants;
• Mugwort;
• Handmade mugwort, lemonbalm and chamomile teabags (more blends will be added);
• Anti-anxiety/sleep spray;
• Face serum;
• Spell sachets; and
• Spell jars.

Here’s the link:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ConceivingaDream

Worm Moon and Home Protection Ritual

The third Full Moon of 2021 is due to arrive this weekend, just before March ends, with it being at it’s fullest on Monday 29th March.

This Full Moon is traditionally known as the Worm Moon (as this is the time of year the ground thaws and the worms can be seen appearing above the surface), although it can be known by different names in different parts of the world. You may also know this Moon as the Sugar Moon, the Paschal Moon or, if you had a Catholic upbringing (like me), the Lenten Moon, because it appears during Lent.

The astrological sign the Worm Moon will be in is Libra. This is the perfect time to undertake spells and rituals relating to heightening romantic desire, rationally discuss feelings, stay impartial and objective, make a promise (to yourself or others) and work to put harmonious energy in your home.

I will be undertaking a Home Protection Ritual, in conjunction with a good old fashioned Spring Clean, which uses the four elements of air, fire, water and earth.

If you wanted to do one too, here are the items you will need:

• Incense and holder – Any scent of incense you desire, but something suitable for protecting and cleansing your home, such as Cedar Sage (prosperity, protection, harmony) or Sweet Grass (home blessings, healing, positivity);
• Sea salt – for purification, cleansing and dispelling negativity;
• Full Moon Water – for deep energetic cleansing;
• Bowl – to make salt water mixture; and
• Fan (or a feather, or your hand, if you don’t have a fan).

My awesome mermaid fan my husband bought me at Disney World

METHOD

Light the incense, which represents the elements of air and fire.

Put the full moon water in bowl and add a pinch of the salt to represent water and earth elements.

Use the fan to gently disperse incense smoke around your home.

Sprinkle the salt water on walls, floors and ceiling.

Draw a pentacle in salt water over every door, window and any other opening to the outside.

I will say this blessing as I travel through our house.

Bless this house,
May peace dwell within.
Protect all that enter,
Whether friend or kin.
Bless every door, window, ceiling and wall, Bless each room, closet, attic, bless it all.
Bless this house with love and light,
Hold us safe here, day and night.
As above and so below,
So mote it be.

Sources:
The Little Book of Moon Magic – Sarah Bartlett

Herbal Sleep Sachet

**WARNING – Please do not use essential oils if pregnant or breast feeding, as they can be very harmful. Also, please ensure any ingredients do not have any contraindications with medication you are using, or that you are not allergic to any of the ingredients. Thank you!**

A few months back, I was struggling to sleep, due to some of my medical conditions flaring up and causing me pain. Despite the herbal tea (Sleepy Tea Blog) and bath salts (Bath Salts Blog) I make and use, I needed something a bit more powerful to add to my bedtime arsenal. Therefore, I decided to make a herbal sleep sachet for inside my pillow.

I do a lot of crafts and have drawers full of bits and bobs, including some cute Disney fat quarters (I found these in Aldi a few years ago). I chose a nice pattern and cut it to the size I needed and hand sewed it, inside out, along two sides, with one side left open and a flap to tuck in. Once sewn, I then turned it inside out again, so that it was the right way round and the two sewn sides were now on the inside.

I put the following dried herbs into a bowl:

• 2 chamomile teabags (opened and emptied, but you could use loose, dried chamomile flowers) – for it’s mild tranquillising effect and sleep inducing properties;
• 1 piece of star anise – to repel nightmares (use sparingly);
• 2 teaspoons of catnip – for increasing restful sleep;
• 2 teaspoons of lemon balm – for it’s ability to reduce anxiety and insomnia, in addition to relieving stress;
• 2 teaspoons of jasmine flowers – to reduce stress and anxiety, help with symptoms of depression and to help get a good night’s sleep;
• 2 teaspoons of mugwort – for pleasant dreams and to help fall back to sleep if awoken (I do this a lot, so need something to help me fall back to sleep again);
• 2 teaspoons of rose petals (mine were pinky red, but you could use any colour) – for loving and peaceful thoughts and dreams; and
• 2 teaspoons of Lavender – for it’s anxiolytic (anxiety relieving) properties and as a sedative, to increase relaxation and calm, and help for bringing about sleep.

I then put 8-10 drops of each of the following essential oils into the dried herbs and stirred deosil (clockwise), imbuing the mixture with my intent for peaceful, relaxing and restorative sleep.

• Frankincense – for it’s aromatherapeutic benefits, which help relieve stress and promote relaxation;
• Clary sage – for it’s natural sedative properties, which can provide a calming effect to help fall and stay asleep. It is also known to reduce the levels of hormones associated with stress, such as cortisol, which helps your body prepare for a good night’s rest; and
• Bergamot – for it’s calming effect and ability to induce physiological changes that precede sleep, such as lowering heart rate and blood pressure.

I also wanted to include some crystals in my sachet that are associated with sleep, so I looked into the properties and correspondences of various crystals and chose the following.

• Amethyst – this crystal helps with sleep by blocking stress and negative energies. It is especially helpful when insomnia is caused by stress and over thinking. It also protects against nightmares;
• Rose quartz – this crystal is helpful as it is the stone of unconditional love and peace. It can remove negative energy and replace it with positive vibes and can provide restorative healing and self love;
• Moonstone – this crystal has been used for centuries as a sleep stone and can also increase sleep quality. It is also fantastic for calming and stabilising the emotions and promoting a restful sleep; and
• Clear quartz – this is the most powerful healing crystal, in addition to being a great energy amplifier and can be used to enhance the energies of other crystals. Therefore, I added it to my sleep sachet to increase and amplify the energies of the amethyst, rose quartz and moonstone.

Once everything is thoroughly mixed, I carefully spooned the mixture into the open end of the sachet, until all the mixture was inside. I then folded in the edges, along with the flap, and sewed it shut.

It’s been in my pillow ever since and if it needs refreshing, I just sprinkle a few drops of each of the essential oils I used onto the material of the sachet. I’ve honestly been sleeping so much better!

My Witchcraft Journey

I have been fascinated by witchcraft, forteana, the paranormal and cryptozoology (I had a subscription to the Fortean Times from about 11/12 years old onwards) for as long as I can remember (I am 44 now). There’s a bit of paranormal history in my family too, with both my mum and my grandma on my dad’s side having had encounters with Spirits on a couple of occasions. My mum was also once told by a psychic medium that she had latent psychic abilities that she should develop, but she never did as far as I’m aware. I was also one of those kids that had an imaginary friend. Mine was a pony called Poppet and he was with me for years!

Looking back, I think my journey into witchcraft started when I was about 12 or 13. I found some dream books and books on herbs in the loft at my parents house that were my mum’s. I started foraging for the herbs in the books, or finding them in our garden, and made teas, tinctures, soups and condiments, anything I could really. I once made my dad nettle soup, which was truly awful, but, bless him, he ate every drop and pretended to love it! I also persuaded my mum to buy me more herb and natural remedy books from the garden centre too.

I also had what I now realise as being an altar of sorts, from about 13/14 onwards (without actually realising what it was), which was a big shelf above my radiator, over which I painted a big Mandala on the wall with a Yin Yang symbol in the middle.

On this shelf I kept interesting stones, fossils and minerals I’d found, shells and feathers, bits of plants and dried flowers. I also burned incense, had candles and drank herbal teas, sometimes with added herbs from the garden or spices from my mums spice rack. Here I’d make wishes on candles to do well in a test, or to get that boy I liked to notice me, which were in essence my first spells. I’d also write things down on paper and burn them, which I now know is a way of manifesting your desires.

I used shufflemancy with my CDs, and my own version of bibliomancy with my books, to make decisions, long before I found out these were forms of divination. I would also have little fires at the bottom of the garden and just sit out there, watching the moon and stars whilst drinking my tea.

We didn’t have the internet at home when I was younger and the local librarian was loathed to lend me Stephen King books, let alone anything to do with witchcraft or the occult, so I had no choice but to make things up as I went along. Even at university there was limited access to the internet! It’s so much easier nowadays for people to do research, watch videos and join online groups and communities to learn about witchcraft. I wish there’d have been something like that when I was younger.

It’s only really been since my mid 30’s that I realised the things I’ve been intuitively doing since I was a young teen could be classed as witchcraft. I just didn’t realise, because these things just came naturally to me. As I’ve got older, the pull towards properly learning and researching has become stronger and our house has become more cluttered with stones, feathers, shells and dried flowers I’ve found, in addition to crystals.

Over the years I’ve read so much more into it and got so invested in the idea and history of witchcraft, that to NOT develop it was becoming impossible to resist!! So here I am! I’ve only recently started to refer to myself as a Witch, or even been comfortable in telling people about it.

However, I found a few communities for Witchcraft online and became an active member, writing blogs and articles on things I’d researched, or spells/rituals I’d developed/undertaken and hosted/co-hosted chats on crystals, nature, kitchen witchery and candle magick etc. I also found out, through helping and advising the younger or more inexperienced members of these communities, that I knew a lot more about witchcraft than I realised.

For me, the next logical step was setting up this website, and associated social media, as a way of recording what I know and have done and to help others starting out in their journeys into witchcraft

Travel Altar

Following on from my post yesterday about my Altar, I wanted to show you a way you can still have an Altar, but for it to be a bit more discreet. So this will be perfect if you’re in the Broom Closet, don’t have the room, travel frequently, not allowed by your parents or, like me, enjoy taking your practice out into nature.

I found this cute oblong metal tin (I think it’s supposed to be a pencil case) in IKEA a while back, which is decorated to look like a little snake!!

On the inside, I personalised it with some stickers on the bottom part of the tin (from the top down):

• Triple Moon Fertility Goddess to represent my lifelong struggle with infertility;

• A beautiful and colourfull beetle to represent my love for nature; and

• A Mandala to represent my spiritual journey.

Inside the lid, I have three metal flower of life Metatron’s cube stickers, to represent the journey of energy throughout the universe, and of balance within the universe, to aid with meditation. (I am a bit annoyed I put them on a bit wonky, as they’re so thin, I can’t get them off again without ruining them). The contents of my travel altar are as follows:

• Mini besom to symbolically cleanse and purify wherever I decide to do any work;

• A lighter for my candles and incense;

• Mini green, yellow, white, orange, red and black rolled beeswax candles, for any spells, rituals or to signify the fire element when casting my circle;

• A metal disc incense holder;

• The tiniest bottle of Himalayan pink salt to represent the earth element when setting up a protective working space;

• Small glass jar of Samhain Blue Moon water to signify the water element when circle casting;

• ‘Meditation’ scent incense cones to represent the element of air;

• Clear quartz teardrop, to use as a substitute for any other crystal I may need;

• Rosemary essential oil, as Rosemary can be a substitute for any other herb/essential oil I may need;

• Pine cone to signify health and prosperity, healing and protection; and

• Chamomile tea bags, because they’re just lovely.

I just love how cute and organised it is (and that it all fits!) and I can’t wait for the warmer months to use it outside!

Daily Witchcraft

A lot of the time, Witchcraft isn’t complicated. It’s not all about casting circles, long and contracted rituals and spell casting. It about saying daily affirmations out loud, stirring love and positive intent into a meal you’re making for your loved ones or carrying crystals in your pocket (or bra, I don’t judge!). It can also look like self care. Ritual baths, filled with fragrant and healing salts, oils and herbs. Taking that time out to be on your own, so you’ve got peace and quiet, space to be reflective and mindful and you can just ‘be’.

I’m relaxing in a bath with a lavender & jasmine epsom salt blend, dead sea minerals, hemp, coconut and lime bubbles, nag champa oil, candles and freesia and sweet pea incense.

I can just relax, clear my mind, not worry about what I’ve got to do tomorrow, or whether what I’ve done today was good enough. I just need to know that I do my best in everything and that’s all I can ask of myself. Now’s the time to just be present in the moment.