Winter's Herbal Magick: Making Traditional & Modern Folk Charms

I've lived through all sorts of winters - from the mild winters of the southlands to the deep winters in the northeast kingdom and a lot of winter lands in-between. It's in these winter months that some of my most cherished memories have been made - from the way that gatherings feel like a triumph in a snow-dense city to mild sunny days of exchanging gifts to the exhilaration of the most familiar places becoming something new and unfamiliar beneath a layer of frost. Winter reminds me of how dependent we are on one another - and that feels like an empowering spell of connection that I'm always eager to learn more from. 

In the fourth part of my Seasonal Magick series we'll be exploring three folk spell traditions, incorporating plant allies of winter to aid us in our magick. From a witch's ladder that connects us to our ancestors to a witch's bundle to invite in rest and a witch's bottle for growing hope, these three herbal charms are easy to make, tap into our legacy as magickal practitioners, and help us to connect with the energy of the season. To find the full introduction to this series and why I love simple folk magick so much, including additional insight into each of the three traditional charms we'll be exploring, come this way.

So let's explore how we can create witch's ladders, bundles, and bottles as one of the ways to connect with the seasonal rhythms of the year and our beloved plant allies.

The Witch's Ladder

Traditionally made of woolen cord, rope, woven thread or hair and knotted with items like feathers, holed stones, sticks and bits of metal, witch's ladders are a beautiful form of magick that combine charm-making with knot magick and weaving spells. The witch's ladder has remained popular among modern practitioners, supported in part by the Priestess Doreen Valiente's Spell of the Cord, an inspired modern variation of older forms of spoken knot magick. Energetically, they can act like a net, gathering up energy to hold in place and to either be drawn upon (in the case of beneficial energy) or released elsewhere (in the case of baneful energy).

A Witch's Ladder To Honor Ancestors

Winter starts with the end of the bright half of the year at Samhain, where the land of the living and the lands of the dead mingle. For the next few weeks, the wild hunt rides the sky, finding lost souls and bringing them to the feast table at Midwinter - reminding us that no one is ever truly lost and that there is room for all at the table. I embrace the ways that the dark days of winter can make it easier to connect with those who have gone before and my favorite style of witch's ladder for winter is one that reminds us of our connections to our ancestors.

In the Anglo-Saxon tradition, of which the traditional western herbalism that I practice partially descends from, Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) is honored as "Una, oldest of herbs."¹ An herb of dreams and visions, Mugwort is primarily used as a uterine tonic in traditional western herbalism, a place that sits at the crossroads between life, death, and renewal in the body. For ancestral practice, working with Mugwort feels like tugging at the web of life and to feel your ancestors tugging back. Of course, if there is a significant ancestral herb in your practice that you'd rather incorporate than Mugwort, please do, or incorporate it alongside Mugwort.

I love the silver and feathery leaves of Mugwort, how they mimic the feathers traditionally used in witch's ladders of generations past, but if you are only able to find the crushed herb simply tie it up in bundles to tie to your ladder. 

A Mugwort Charm

Una, eldest
Ancestors wise
Hearts connect
For the soul never dies

As already mentioned, in addition to Mugwort I encourage you to use herbs from your ancestral line. Other ancient plants, which act as collective ancestors to our species, include Rose (Rosa spp.) and Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba). You can also bring in the colors of winter, including red berries and green leafy branches of Uva Ursi or Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) and other evergreens. Consider adding charms that connect you to specific ancestors (both mighty and beloved) as well as cultural traditions your ancestors would've been familiar with. 

Creating Your Ladder

To create a witch's ladder use cord, thread or yarn to braid or not your chosen objects into a long hanging cord. How long you make your witch's ladder is up to you, but I find that they work better when shorter when being hung outside and can be a bit longer when keeping it inside. I like to start by laying out all objects I'll be tying into my witch's ladder before me on my altar, blessing them with the four elements of fire (candle light), air (incense), water (water infused with flower essences or salt), and earth (sprinkling herbs over the items or laying the items on a stone surface). I like to use some variation of a cord charm when knotting my items, like Valiente's or the one written above, changing the language for my needs. 

Once all items are added, the witch's ladder can be hung up by an altar, window or door. For a spring witch's ladder I like to make ones that'll either hang just outside my door or beside a window, so that the ladder is able to dance in spring's winds.

You can add extra magick to your summer witch's ladder, by placing it in a sunny spot at the height of noon for a few minutes to charge up - better yet is it is surrounded by a circle of quartz crystals. Over the next year, I like to use pass my witch's ladder over my deck of tarot cards or other divinatory tool before doing a reading when I feel like I need an extra boost of illuminating clarity.

The Witch's Bundle

The simplest of our three traditional folk magick charms, a witch's bundle is a collection of exclusively or mostly plants with other items (such as old skeleton keys, a nice stick, a hunk of rock) tied up together and hung up above a door (or bed or other auspicious place). Witch's bundles, like all of the magickal crafts listed here, can be endlessly personalized to match your need, your aesthetic preferences, and reflect your relationships. If you're studying a particular plant ally you might include them in your witch's bundle (if the herb has already been dried and processed, you can add some into a little pouch and tie it to your bundle). If you are working with a deity that is fond of one particular color, choose that color of cloth or string to tie up your bundle. If you're a cool goth witch, add the skulls and gothic crosses to your bundle of dried Rose (Rosa spp.). Let yourself enjoy the process of finding your creative magickal expression - it helps you understand better what it you're using magick for in the first place.

The Witch's Bundle To Invite In Rest

Learning how to work with the tides of magick flowing through the year, is to work with the flow of seasonal energy, softening the edges of counter-current in our life as much as possible. Winter is a time of rest, of long nights filled with longer stories, and finding one another in the dark. For winter, I like to create witch's bundles that help me invite rest into my life as an honored guest instead of trying to outpace them through overwork.

Chamomile (Matricaria recutita) is an excellent plant ally for the overworked, the overtired, and the cranky - and given that many of our winters can be filled with an excess of social obligations, it's a great ally for the season. One of the healing gifts of Chamomile is its relaxing influence on the nervous system, making it a popular before-bed tea (the fact that it's an excellent post-meal digestive aid helps, too). I love that Chamomile looks like sweet little suns, a perfect addition to Midwinter festivities of welcoming back the tiniest star of light during the longest night of the year. Chamomile, as a plant ally of rest, helps us to soften habits of pushing past our limits of rest to find ourselves irritated, angry, and exhausted and draws us towards reconnection to our inner cues for rest.

A Chamomile Charm

Every night, every day
I honor rest along my way
Every blossom, every light
I call in rest each day, each night

Additional herbs to consider include Lavender (Lavandula spp.) and Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis). Adding items that help you feel restful and relaxed, from cozy scents to using restful colors, as well as including symbols like moons, stars, and other objects that represent rest and stones that exude a restful aura like Moonstone and Amethyst. 

Creating Your Bundle

Bless all your objects as described in the above section "Creating Your Ladder." Once you've collected all of your items (such as a few sprigs of Rosemary), use a colored thread or ribbon of choice to tie up your bundle. I like to tie the top part and leave the rest loose, but you can tie up everything from top to bottom. The advantage of the latter technique is that you can tie larger objects inside the bundle, even hiding them from view if that's your preference. Once tied up, hang the bundle above an altar, door, or window. 

The Witch's Bottle

Traditionally, witch's bottles or jars were buried or hidden away from view in the back of cupboards, sometimes even between walls, beneath floors, or high up in the attics. They embody the magickal practice of doing the work and then letting it be, allowing the magick to continue to unfold in its own time. Sometimes jars are made for a short period of need (such as a honey jar for attracting a job) and then the contents are offered back to the earth, while others are more permanent and meant to be mostly forgotten. Other times, jars and their contents can be renewed on a regular basis (such as at the Full Moons or the sabbats). Energetically, witch's bottles tend to act like generators, helping to generate an outcome or a specific type of energy.

A Witch's Bottle To Grow Hope

The long dark of winter can be a stark reminder of how vulnerable all of us and all the places and people we love are. It feels especially challenging to try to cultivate hope during times we are living through (fighting through, struggling through) right now. There isn't any single magickal herb that can force hope to grow in our exhausted spirits. But hope is a practice, and plants are allies, and we can create reminders around and within us to practice our hope, connect with allies - plants and beyond - and let hope flow through us and into the lives of others as the infinite resource that it is.

Milky Oat (Avena sativa) is not just one of my favorite nervous system tonics, it is one of my most beloved plant allies for hope. The common herb is one of the best nervines I know, helping to restore the nervous system after a period of stress - it is probably one of the most commonly recommended herbs in my practice - and it has been used for centuries within traditional western herbalism to help alleviate suffering brought on by emotional and mental distress. Working with Milky Oat feels like carrying seeds of possibility in our hearts, helping us to connect with our resilience, and in its wild wisdom, drawing us towards the people and places that have the most space for us. 

A Milky Oat Charm

A wild seed of hope
planted in my heart
Fed with the nectar of love

Every darkness bright
With the promise of a star
Held up with the strength of love

Other herbs to consider are Linden (Tilia x europaea), Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca), and Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna). I love adding stones and flowers and anything into this jar that makes me smile and makes me want to pause and spend a moment in gratitude (a hope-generating practice). 

Creating Your Bottle

Bless all your objects as described in the above section "Creating Your Ladder." Make sure you have a tight sealing bottle or jar so to prevent items from leaking out if you are using any fluids or from pests getting in. Add your herbs and charms in one-by-one, naming their purpose as you go, and then you can seal your jar with wax or tie it up with ribbon to seal in or bind up the magick. Once completed choose where your bottle is going to live, whether in the house, mode of transportation, place of school or work or buried (especially good for banishing magick, though make sure all items are biodegradable).

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For more herbal inspiration for your summer, how about creating your own winter wellness apothecary? Or a might-do list for the Winter Solstice? I also explore more of winter’s plant allies, healing paths, and magickal ways over here. I’ve also written about some of my favorite plant allies for winter travels.

I hope you’ve found inspiration for your own winter magickal practices and feel a little more connected to season of slowing down and exploring within.

This post was made possible through patron support.
❤︎ Thanks, friends. ❤︎

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Footnotes

1.  J. S. Hopkins, "Nigon wyrta galdor, popularly known as the Nine Herbs Charm: a new annotated and illustrated translation," 2020, https://www.mimisbrunnr.info/nigon-wyrta-galdor (accessed July 2022).

Herbs for the Winter Body

Friends, what follows is an excerpt from the winter section my book The Apothecary of Belonging: Seasonal Rituals & Practical Herbalism that explores the energy of the season and how we can connect to herbs for the winter body from a traditional western herbalism perspective.

Within The Apothecary of Belonging I focus on how we draw ourselves back into relationship with the land, our bodies, and our communities through earth-centered seasonal practices - for all is land, there is no other.

As the darkest part of the year starts to stretch throughout the land, I thought I'd share a part of the winter section of my book with you. Each seasonal section includes practices for connecting with the land, from breathwork to simple rituals, a seasonal apothecary full of plant allies to work with, an invitation to connecting with your land-body through divination, and more.

You can find the introduction to the book here and if you feel inspired by what you read below, consider checking out a copy from your library or purchasing a copy for your own bookshelves. Thank you for your support and making the work of writing a book even possible!

❄️ ☕️ 🌿

Within traditional western herbalism, winter is a time of falling temperatures and increasing moisture, moving from the dry coolness of autumn into the increasingly damp cold of the darkest part of the year. The land is slowing: snowpack builds in the mountains, storing precious reserves of water that’ll flow down throughout the warmer seasons, while the combination of coldness and damp draws the energy of plant life inward or underground. The moisture and frost of winter aid in the process of decay started in autumn, drawing energy farther down and inward, rebuilding the soil before another season of growth begins. Traditional western herbalism associates winter with the element of earth moving into primordial water, representing the final period of maturation and age within the human life cycle.

Within our apothecaries we can support our winter bodies by incorporating immune system tonics into our daily brews, stocking our shelves with favorite cold-care remedies, including a variety for coughs ranging from dry to damp, brain tonics to support our seasonal mental health and agility, tonics to support our fluid-filtering organs, and remedies to meet the needs of our increasing age.

image via @yosoybrod

Winter helps us identify areas of our life that have become frozen, brittle, and lacking in vitality. Signs of Cold (one of the six energetic tissue states used within traditional western herbalism along with Heat, Tension, Relaxation, Stagnation, and Dryness) include weak circulation, ineffective digestion and absorption of nutrients, feeling understimulated, and an underperforming immune system so you’re catching every cold that comes your way. Many recommendations for winter health within the herbal world and beyond include warming remedies from herb-enriched broths to hot teas to counteract the season’s excessive Cold, which is why it is good to incorporate physically warming remedies into your winter rotation. 

When unresolved Tension or excess Relaxation from any previous season follows us into winter, it can mingle and get stuck with the season’s increased Cold, leading to Stagnation. Stoking our digestive fires with warming bitters as well as including gently energizing nervines in our rotation of daily teas can keep us feeling relaxed but present. Slowing down and resting are part of winter’s healing gifts, including moments of sadness and even somber introspection, but we want to guard against getting stuck in seasonal sadness or lingering burnout. Getting things off our chest energetically and physically (supported by lung tonics), sharing unexpressed grief, and working with plant allies as elders are all ways we can embrace and be embraced by winter. 

image via @sxtcxtc

Winter teaches us how to be watchful of muddy places that could become swampy and stagnant in our body, inhibiting the flow of energy. Signs of Stagnation include feelings of stuckness and malaise, buildup that results in conditions such as excess mucus or cystic acne, as well as general lethargy and even apathy. Most of us experience at least a bit of winter Stagnation. We also need to pay attention to the way we support the digestive warmth and fires of the body since the rich foods of winter combined with a slower digestive cycle from the long hours of night start to speed up again in spring. Signs of Stagnation such as bloating, constipation, gas, feeling like the food is just sitting in your stomach, and becoming overly tired after eating because digestion takes so much effort can be alleviated with digestive bitters and helpful energizing Tension in the form of astringent herbs that move energy. Late winter and early spring colds can lead to lingering congestion and an immune system needing extra support, so we can turn to anticatarrhal, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulating herbs.

image via @pollypommes

As a season associated with aging and elderhood, winter has us turn to plants with a special relationship to the aging process and longevity such as Sage (Salvia officinalis), Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), and Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus). Through winter and connecting with the ancient energies of the land, we can explore the wisdom of our increasing age, learning to discern and carry only what brings us meaning and connection. Winter is a beautiful time to explore what inheritances have been passed down to you through the generations and the healing needs of your ancient self. You can work with the ebbing energy of the land, returning to the ocean lungs of our planet, by tending to your lungs, your own inner sea.

During winter, the land travels the path to dream and settles into a seasonal slumber. We can mirror the winter of the land in our own inner landscape, connecting with plants that support our sleep body, especially if our rest and sleep cycles have been disrupted during the busyness of the year. Herbs like Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata) not only settle us into a state of rest but pull into focus what really matters to us instead of what keeps us busy. Seeking connection with winter’s rhythms helps us reconnect to our own inner visions, finding inspiration with the dreaming land.

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Looking for more inspiration for your winter practices? I've shared my favorite warming bitters blend for the winter months as well as a whole post on creating your own winter apothecary. I've also written about winter herbal and magickal practices and I even have a winter solstice tarot spread for you.

Wherever the season carries you, may the bright clarity of winter’s cold brings you comfort, carrying you all the way through to spring’s bright dreaming.

This post was made possible through patron support.
❤︎ Thanks, friends. ❤︎

Path of Beauty: Rose (Rosa damascena) Plant Profile

Two years ago, I was offered the opportunity to write a book by a publishing company whose back catalogue I’ve read most of since first spotting their ankh marked books in my local library as a kid.

When I eventually said yes I knew I wanted to fill the pages with some of my most beloved plant allies. Rose (Rosa spp.) was one of the first plants that came to mind since it was the first herb I wrote of in the style that would become the prototype for the plant ally profiles you'll find throughout this community blog - and I even painted a (nearly fluorescent) watercolor of to go along with that original but retired post.

To celebrate the official release of The Apothecary of Belonging: Seasonal Rituals & Practical Herbalism it felt like a lovely bit of magick to share the Rose plant profile you'll find within its pages. I first came to know Rose as a young witch, then as an herbal student, and over and over again as a community herbalist - it is a layered and beautiful form of plant remedy, generous in its wisdom, and protective in its energy. I'm happy to be sharing the stories and healing ways that I've come to know about Rose as I release the book that I've describe as a love letter - reminding us that we can always find our way back home to each other. 

So with heartfelt thanks for all your support over the years that made The Apothecary of Belonging possible, let's get to know Rose.

byrev, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Rose
(Rosa damascena)

Common + Folk Names : Queen of flowers, rosa, satapatri, witch’s briar, thorn mother, oginii-waabigwan

Elements : Water, air, fire

Zodiac Signs : Embodies the energy of Taurus and Libra. A remedy for all signs.

Planets : Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Moon

Moon Phase : Full Moon

Parts Used : Flowers, hips, roots

Habitat : There are 47 species of the Rosa genus growing wild in Europe and 10,000 varieties, both wild and cultivated, worldwide.

Growing Conditions : Partial shade to full sun with frequent watering

Collection : Collect rosehips before flowering. Collect flowers in the spring and summer.

Flavor : Bitter, sweet, astringent

Temperature : Cooling

Moisture : Moist (flower + seed), Dry (hip + root)

Tissue States : Heat, Relaxation, Cold

Actions : Diaphoretic, carminative, probiotic, hepatoprotective, emmenagogue, reproductive tonic, aphrodisiac, aperient, decongestant, febrifuge, nervine, anxiolytic, antidepressant, anti-inflammatory, astringent, hemostatic, antimicrobial, antidepressant, analgesic, vulnerary, deodorant. Flower: Anodyne, antibacterial, antidepressant, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, antispasmodic, antiviral, aphrodisiac, aromatic, astringent, blood tonic, cardiotonic, carminative, decongestant, diuretic, emmenagogue, expectorant, hemostatic, hepatic, kidney tonic, laxative, refrigerant, sedative. Hip: Antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antimutagenic, antioxidant, antiviral, astringent, blood tonic, cardiotonic, digestive, diuretic (mild), emmenagogue, kidney tonic, laxative, nutritive, stimulant, tonic. Seed: Diuretic, laxative. Root: Astringent, carminative.

Contraindications : Caution during pregnancy and while nursing

Dosage : Standard dosage

image via New York Public Library

Rose is one of the elder plants of our home planet, used medicinally for thousands of years and a beloved ancestor of our herbal practice. The herb helps us tap into ancestral wisdom, honor the ancient animal nature of our sensitivity, and learn how to unfold into our gifts just as a many-petaled Rose unfolds into maturity. As a sweet medicine that calms the nervous system, Rose assists with memory and promotes clarity of mind, heart, and spirit by connecting all three centers of experience. Within Ayurveda, Rose is considered a rasayana (rejuvenative tonic) and medhya (brain tonic and nervine) for all of the doshas. The Anishinaabe have a myth about Rose that teaches that “[t]he sight and smell of a rose are here to remind us of the harmony inherent in our world. The thorns are there to keep us mindful of greed that endangers the balance and thereby endangers the whole of creation.”¹

Rose is an essential remedy for imbalances arising from excess inflammation. The flower relieves pain from heat and inflammation, including gastritis, peptic ulcers, and cooling an overheated liver. Rose’s cooling qualities also alleviate the heat that can accompany autoimmune conditions and assist topically and internally with arthritic pain, improving flexibility of movement. Use as a remedy for fluid imbalances that lead to depletion of energy and blood in the body, including diarrhea, excess bleeding, and the accumulation of fluids. Rose prevents and alleviates colds and can also be used in the case of flu, sore throats, excess mucus, and coughs, including bronchitis. Rose is an uplifting, soothing, and nourishing medicine for those with weakened vitality, including children, elders, and people in recovery from illness. For fluid imbalances Rose can be effective in cases of an overactive bladder, bed-wetting, night sweats, and general excess excretion of fluids. Excessive menstruation is eased by a strong tea of dried Rose, and the herb is also useful for uterine spasms and cramping. A vaginal douche can relieve infection, inflammation, and conditions such as vaginitis and thrush. As an astringent, Rose can be useful for diarrhea and internal hemorrhage as well as acting as a healing herb in postpartum sitz baths.

As a digestive aid, Rose has wonderful probiotic qualities and supports healthy gut flora. Use Rose during and after taking antibiotics to rebuild gut flora as it encourages the growth of beneficial bacteria while countering harmful pathogens. As a clearing herb, Rose improves circulation and promotes healthy blood flow, breaks up kidney stones and helps the kidneys process toxins, and relieves brain fog.

As an aphrodisiac, Rose is an opener—it opens the heart and body to healing experiences with oneself and others. Like many aphrodisiacs, Rose has nervine qualities that relax the body into a place of connected intimacy. For those seeking fertility support, Rose has also been shown to increase sperm count. In addition to the powder and juice of Rose, a Rose honey can be a topical treatment for inflammation, rashes, wounds, ulcers, acne, herpes, and similar skin imbalances. My favorite form of Rose skincare is rosewater, which adds and maintains water in the skin and can be used as a mild antiseptic for first-aid needs. Use as a mouthwash for ulcers and bleeding gums. Rose vinegar or a strong tea is especially cooling and repairing for the skin after prolonged sun exposure. Apply externally on the eyes as a soothing compress to relieve eye-strain and conjunctivitis and improve vision.

image via @cristina_glebova

Seasonal Uses

In spring Rose skincare recipes rejuvenate winter skin. A Rose herbal oil can loosen up stiff joints, waking the body up to the new season. In summer, use rosewater, a strong Rose tea, or Rose vinegar for after-sun care, and keep Rose honey or Rose petal powder handy for stings, bumps, and bruises. In autumn rosehips are a great addition to tea to prevent colds and flu. Add Rose petals to teas and desserts during winter to gladden the heart and as a digestive aid so that the body can rest deeply during the darkest part of the year.

Magickal Uses

The Rose is a symbol of many ancient goddesses, including Ishtar, Isis, and Aphrodite. The flower also has a special relationship to Sappho and lesbians as it is from Sappho that Rose received the name “Queen of Flowers.”² Use Rose in spells and charms for love, desire, charm, and attraction. Add the petals to your dream pillow to dream of love. Rose is a great plant ally for those desiring to deepen their spiritual study and experience. Add to charms of mirth, reverence, and joy. Use in charms of secrecy (“under the rose . . .”). Use in handfasting rituals for divine blessing of the union. Thorns can be included in charms of protection. Rose tea awakens psychic visions and connects us to our intuitive heart-knowings.

The Rose Personality

The Rose personality has lost their spark of desire. They might have trouble sleeping, be restless and exhausted, and ultimately not have enough energy to explore their worlds either physically or philosophically. The desire to create and experience life and relationships of all kinds is low; their vitality stagnant. What they think they should be doing dominates their thoughts more than what they want to be doing. Sometimes they are not even sure they know what they want to be doing. Many Rose folks experience a disconnection in relationships, creating distance between themselves and those they love. For those who’ve been in this state of exhaustion for a while, their brain and heart fog can be punctured by sudden overwhelming feelings of despair, like they are living without a light in the dark. Sometimes, unresolved anger simmers deep below the surface - Rose teaches us how to use both our thorns and petals to set up boundaries and supportive spaces to express how we really feel. Working with Rose helps folk reconnect to their wildness, their fierceness, and their determination to know and name their heart’s desires.

Rose helps folks to dream and want and feel and move closer to the relationships that feel whole and holy, closing the distance between themselves and the people, places, and creatures they love. Ultimately, Rose connects folks back to the secret excitement of mystery, where it is safe to express desire and seek it out. The profound gift of Rose folks is the ability to name desire, honor it in others, and shine like a fiery, welcoming, and protective light wherever they go.

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I hope you enjoyed this exploration of Rose’s healing and magickal gifts. You can find many more plant profiles in my archive and my complete collection of plant profiles in The Plant Ally Library. If you’d like to learn more about the thorn energy of Rose, come this way. Rose has a special relationship with Venus within astroherbalism, and if you’re into connecting with the wise crone energy of Venus during the year’s renewal at Samhain, you might like this tarot spread.

If you are one of the folks who have already preordered The Apothecary of Belonging or are planning on purchasing it today or requested it at your library - thank you! Thank you for your enthusiasm - I hope the book is useful to you and your practice, becoming appropriately tea-stained and well-worn in the years to come.

This post was made possible through patron support.
❤︎ Thanks, friends. ❤︎

Autumn's Herbal Magick: Making Traditional & Modern Folk Charms

I love autumn and all it has to offer - it’s still warm enough to work magick outside but not so sweltering like summer with plenty left to forage. The energy of harvest season is abundant and the veils between the worlds are that much easier to move through. I love coming back home after being out on a blustery autumn day to my magickal workspace, hands itching to craft a charm or two as daylight gives way to the long dusk of dark season.

In the third part of my Seasonal Magick series we'll be exploring three folk spell traditions, incorporating plant allies of autumn to aid us in our magick. From a witch's ladder that binds up pesky energy to a witch's bundle to welcome in plenty and a witch's bottle for protection, these three herbal charms are easy to make, tap into our legacy as magickal practitioners, and help us to connect with the energy of the season. To find the full introduction to this series and why I love simple folk magick so much, including additional insight into each of the three traditional charms we'll be exploring, come this way.

So let's explore how we can create witch's Ladders, bundles, and bottles as one of the ways to connect with the seasonal rhythms of the year and our beloved plant allies.

The Witch's Ladder

Traditionally made of woolen cord, rope, woven thread or hair and knotted with items like feathers, holed stones, sticks and bits of metal, witch's ladders are a beautiful form of magick that combine charm-making with knot magick and weaving spells. The witch's ladder has remained popular among modern practitioners, supported in part by the Priestess Doreen Valiente's Spell of the Cord, an inspired modern variation of older forms of spoken knot magick. Energetically, they can act like a net, gathering up energy to hold in place and to either be drawn upon (in the case of beneficial energy) or released elsewhere (in the case of baneful energy).

A Witch's Ladder To Bind Up Pesky Energy

A witch's ladder can be a lovely little trap for the sort of pesky, irritating energy that can build up over time because of stress. Autumn's energy of drawing down and in, where decay and decomposition feed the land before winter's slumber, can be tapped into as we shed the layers of the year, including energetic patterns we no longer need taking up residence in our energetic, feeling body. For autumn, I love a witch's ladder that sings to the bones of the year, acknowledging the strangeness and frustration that can flow through our lives, and creating a space to shed bothersome energy.

Garden or Common Sage (Salvia officinalis) is a beautifully protective herb that has additionally space and energy clearing qualities. And to be very clear, I'm not speaking about using White Sage (Salvia apiana) which is so over-harvested it is at risk of endangerment, but any of the many common varieties of Sage typically used in cooking. In my experience, Sage has a magnetic, almost hungry, energy for pulling unwanted, troublesome energy from the energetic body (including the "body" of a home or workspace or mode of transportation). The medicinal uses of Sage reflect its magickal qualities - it is a wonderful "processing" tonic that helps us move energy and information throughout the body through healthy circulation and brain function. Working with Sage as a plant ally to bind up pesky energy can help us to process and release what we no longer need in our lives and energetic field. 

A Sage Charm

Salvia, panacea
Hungry herb of healing
Feast upon this energy
That no longer needs feeling

Other herbs to consider are Juniper (Juniperus officinalis) branches and/or berries and Rue (Ruta graveolens). Adding tassels (a tool in traditional witchcraft) and small woven orbs to your witch's ladder can serve as places for pesky energy to become entangled and trapped. Consider using dark colors, such as deep red and black, and symbols of spiders (who so deftly trap objects in their web) as part of your witch's ladder. 

Creating Your Ladder

To create a witch's ladder use cord, thread or yarn to braid or not your chosen objects into a long hanging cord. How long you make your witch's ladder is up to you, but I find that they work better when shorter when being hung outside and can be a bit longer when keeping it inside. I like to start by laying out all objects I'll be tying into my witch's ladder before me on my altar, blessing them with the four elements of fire (candle light), air (incense), water (water infused with flower essences or salt), and earth (sprinkling herbs over the items or laying the items on a stone surface). I like to use some variation of a cord charm when knotting my items, like Valiente's or the one written above, changing the language for my needs. 

Once all items are added, the witch's ladder can be hung up by an altar, window or door. For a spring witch's ladder I like to make ones that'll either hang just outside my door or beside a window, so that the ladder is able to dance in spring's winds.

You can add extra magick to your summer witch's ladder, by placing it in a sunny spot at the height of noon for a few minutes to charge up - better yet is it is surrounded by a circle of quartz crystals. Over the next year, I like to use pass my witch's ladder over my deck of tarot cards or other divinatory tool before doing a reading when I feel like I need an extra boost of illuminating clarity.

The Witch's Bundle

The simplest of our three traditional folk magick charms, a witch's bundle is a collection of exclusively or mostly plants with other items (such as old skeleton keys, a nice stick, a hunk of rock) tied up together and hung up above a door (or bed or other auspicious place). Witch's bundles, like all of the magickal crafts listed here, can be endlessly personalized to match your need, your aesthetic preferences, and reflect your relationships. If you're studying a particular plant ally you might include them in your witch's bundle (if the herb has already been dried and processed, you can add some into a little pouch and tie it to your bundle). If you are working with a deity that is fond of one particular color, choose that color of cloth or string to tie up your bundle. If you're a cool goth witch, add the skulls and gothic crosses to your bundle of dried Rose (Rosa spp.). Let yourself enjoy the process of finding your creative magickal expression - it helps you understand better what it you're using magick for in the first place.

The Witch's Bundle To Welcome in Plenty

Autumn is a season of harvest festivals, of celebrating the labor of those gone before us, the fruits of our personal and collective effort, and the regenerative harvest of endings and beginnings. Along with spring, autumn is a time of equinox, walking the path between day and night before tipping towards the sacred dark. Working with autumn's magick we can learn to identify what it is we need during the long sheltering night ahead, what we want to carry with us to the wheel's bright half, and where it is our plenty lies. For autumn I like to create bundles that connect me to the abundance of the year so that I know what it is that keeps me full and well and steady on my path.

Little mounds of enchanting Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) make me feel abundance whenever I spot them in my garden because of their tenacious ability to thrive in the heat and cold, but also because I know a harvest of Thyme will help protect from and support the body through winter illnesses. Thyme has a generosity of spirit that I turn to again and again in my practice to learn how to find plenty even when encountering scarcity. Working with Thyme during the season of harvest festivals is one of the ways that we can connect with the plenty in our lives, letting it flow through us into the lives of others, and back to us again and again. 

A Thyme Charm

Thyme upon my lips
Thyme upon my eyes
Thyme upon my spirit
Where hope and plenty thrives

Witch tip! You can replace the word “hope” in the charm with another desirable quality such as love, peace, joy, and so on.

Additional herbs to consider are Peppemint (Mentha piperita) and Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) which are abundant growers and spreaders in the garden, representing abundance. Items that symbolically represent plenty to you, from seeds to money to images of good times together with friends and family, can also be placed in your bundle.

Creating Your Bundle

Bless all your objects as described in the above section "Creating Your Ladder." Once you've collected all of your items (such as a few sprigs of Rosemary), use a colored thread or ribbon of choice to tie up your bundle. I like to tie the top part and leave the rest loose, but you can tie up everything from top to bottom. The advantage of the latter technique is that you can tie larger objects inside the bundle, even hiding them from view if that's your preference. Once tied up, hang the bundle above an altar, door, or window. 

The Witch's Bottle

Traditionally, witch's bottles or jars were buried or hidden away from view in the back of cupboards, sometimes even between walls, beneath floors, or high up in the attics. They embody the magickal practice of doing the work and then letting it be, allowing the magick to continue to unfold in its own time. Sometimes jars are made for a short period of need (such as a honey jar for attracting a job) and then the contents are offered back to the earth, while others are more permanent and meant to be mostly forgotten. Other times, jars and their contents can be renewed on a regular basis (such as at the Full Moons or the sabbats). Energetically, witch's bottles tend to act like generators, helping to generate an outcome or a specific type of energy.

A Witch's Bottle For Love

One of the classic types of witch's bottles are those for protection. Autumn is a time of changing seasons, when summer's easiness fades away and winter's hardiness is just around the corner, so it makes sense to cast protection spells during this liminal time of year where nothing is quite certain. I find autumn's magick to be a combination of drawing on summer's strength while inviting in winter's quiet, honoring the work done earlier in the year to make the rest in the dark of the year possible - spells of protection are part of that process for me. 

The hedgerows are places of magick, liminal and wild, home to wild creatures, medicinal plants, and doorways to the otherworld. Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) is a sacred hedgerow plant, marking the seasons of the year with its blossoming flowers in early summer and appearance of red berries in the autumn. One of the most prized herbs of the heart in traditional western herbalism, Hawthorn not only supports the health of the physical heart but the repair of the emotional heart as well. It is also an energetically protective herb with its long thorns and tales of the plant protecting secret passageways to the otherworld - keeping them hidden until the seeker is ready (or until the Good Folk become interested in you). I love using all the aerial parts of the Hawthorn - the flowers, leaves, berries, and thorns - in my witch's bottle, but use what you have available to you.

A Hawthorn Charm

Round and round the Hawthorn green
Thorn and flower and berry
Round and round safe shall I be
Thorn and flower and berry

Witch tip! You can visualize a magickal and protective hedge that encircles around you, keeping out harmful energy and allowing in beneficial energy.

Other herbs to consider for your protection magick include Garlic (Allium sativum) and Basil (Ocimum spp.). Consider adding sharp objects like nails, even broken glass, to increase the protective energy of your bottle, as well as items that represent protective guides and familiar spirits (like cat hair if you work with a cat familiar). You can also consider adding your own hair or bodily fluid (a very traditional ingredient in witch's bottles) to bind the protective energies of the bottle to you.

Creating Your Bottle

Bless all your objects as described in the above section "Creating Your Ladder." Make sure you have a tight sealing bottle or jar so to prevent items from leaking out if you are using any fluids or from pests getting in. Add your herbs and charms in one-by-one, naming their purpose as you go, and then you can seal your jar with wax or tie it up with ribbon to seal in or bind up the magick. Once completed choose where your bottle is going to live, whether in the house, mode of transportation, place of school or work or buried (especially good for banishing magick, though make sure all items are biodegradable).

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For more herbal inspiration for your summer, how about creating your own autumn wellness apothecary? Or a might-do list for the Autumn Equinox? I also explore more of autumn’s plant allies, healing paths, and magickal ways over here.

I hope you’ve found inspiration for your own autumn magickal practices and feel a little more connected to season of the witch and all the witch folk gone before us.

This post was made possible through patron support.
❤︎ Thanks, friends. ❤︎

The Betwixt Season: Tarot for Magick & Possibility

Where I live, in the land of easy summer, autumn has to work hard to find footing, but she eventually finds her color and her gothic coolness.

There is some part of me that settles into a form of contentment I only experience in autumn - a feeling like everything around me from the weather to the colors fits just right. Where I live, autumns are short and fleeting, a shooting star arching between summer and winter that illuminates the night sky with its precious and unusual light and then is gone. Between Harvest Home and Samhain, we are in the thick of harvest season, where the energy of summer's abundance is dissipating into the fog of autumn's life-nourishing decay. 

It's no surprise that this time of year of rapidly changing landscapes and growing shadows (at least in the more northern and southern parts of our planet), that it’s a season associated with witch folk, the unfamiliar, and the liminal. Autumn greets us with the reminder that all is finite - from the green leaf to the barley field - and yet, there is life still to be lived. The pull between the worlds grows stronger as the veil between all places begins to thin - part of the training of witch folk is to know how to stay rooted on one side while connecting with the other.

While I love this time of growing dark and in-betweenness, I can also find myself harried and hurried, trying to do all the things that the season inspires. While facing the finite can be a relief, it can also bring with it the fear of what might be ending, the grief of what is no longer with us, and the hopelessness that can come from feeling that some aspects of life on this planet (such as the horrors of hungry war and profit machines) feel relentlessly infinite. 

One of the reasons that witch folk practice magick - beyond the consciousness-changing effects that occur in ritual which evoke a sense of empowerment in one's life - is that magick helps us to access our current of the infinite. Magick does not guarantee an outcome but it helps to expand our notion of what is possible. For me, autumn is one of the most magickal times of year, with its dance between the infinite and finite, with light and shadow, and full of sabbats calling us to gather and share abundance. It is where we can gather betwixt and between the challenges of life, the expectations of overcultures, and unrealistic pressures of modern living, to connect with the visions of worlds and futures abundant with kindness and possibility.

While my betwixt season appears between the Autumn Equinox and Samhain, your betwixt season might appear at another time of the year. I encourage you to find your own season of liminality and I hope the following tarot spread helps you to notice the sudden shimmer of magick and possibility throughout all parts of your year. 

Tarot for Magick and Possibility

The following tarot spread is to help you connect with your current of magickal energy and find areas of possibility in your life - all with a little help from our beloved ancestors. If you're stuck on a problem or an area of your life feels particularly stagnant, this spread can help you notice where a shift of perspective can lead to a shift of energy. It is a great spread for times when you're feeling the bigness of life and the universe, but haven't quite figured out how to stay rooted and centered in your explorations. Alternatively, if you're feeling inspired to work magick, but don't know where to focus your efforts, this can be a helpful spread to cast (for both individual practitioners and magickal groups). 

 ✨ Card 1. Something Afoot

This card highlights the current of magick swirling around you at the moment. Often this card is inspiring and can be a big energetic "yes, that's what has been calling me!" Challenging cards in this position can highlight things that you might feel afraid of or uncertain about but want to explore or a part of your life that is calling for transformation.

 ✨ Card 2. The Crossroads 

The place you find yourself in your practice and why things are feeling muddled or uncertain. This card often highlights the choice you feel like you're trying to make or the ways that it feels that the possibilities are limited.

 ✨ Card 3. The Veil Parts: This Side

As the veil thins, meetings are made. This card highlights the inherent gifts you carry within you, often showing a possibility for the path ahead that you may have missed or not given enough weight to.

 ✨ Card 4. The Veil Parts: That Side

As the veil thins, the ancestors arrive to meet us. This card highlights a gift that your ancestors are bringing you to support your ability to connect with the magickal energy of the season. Like the previous card, this one often reveals a possibility for the path ahead that you may not have noticed yet or forgotten.

 ✨ Card 5. A Tool to Use

This card highlights a tool (such as a magickal or healing technique or practice) to call on for the path ahead. The element of this card (for example, the fiery energy of a wands card) can point you towards a particular element-inspired practice (such as the fiery energy of a candle magick ritual). The Major Arcana can inspire all sorts of magickal acts or might be pointing you towards certain aspects of personal or community care.

 ✨ Card 6. A Step to Take

This card suggests the next step to take to tap into your current of magickal possibility.

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So are you a child of autumn’s glow or are you eager to get onwards into winter?

While you can peruse through my complete archive of tarot spreads, you can also find the rest of my in-between tarot series below:

🪽 The Soft Season: Tarot for Clarity & Inspiration

🌸 The Blossoming Season: Tarot for Big Feelings 

☀️ The Bright Season: Tarot for Connection & Purpose

May you find the shimmer of magick wherever your life takes you, highlighting pathways of possibility that are hidden to the heart until they are finally named.

This post was made possible through patron support.
❤︎ Thanks, friends. ❤︎