Child-of-the-morning-stars - Of Shadow And Light

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Spell to protect the bees! Reblogs and likes charge it. Save the bees!

Nyphele's Knotwork Guide

I got an ask about how I do knotwork and ended up writing a novel, so here’s the rebloggable version that might be helpful for others.

I’m a pretty forgetful person, very “out of sight, out of mind” type, so knotwork and jewelry spells are one of my favorite methods of spellwork. A visible reminder helps keep focus on the intent so remembering to do mundane things to work towards the goal isn’t forgotten after the spellwork is done. I’ve found it very practical to be able to “wear” the magic. The basic idea behind the spell is that you’re locking in your intent with each knot. Binding spells are great with knotwork, as you can visualize what you want to happen while physically binding and knotting the cords/strings/ribbons together.

Here is an example - I made this spell bottle for a friend, who needed a bit of help meeting new friends. After I put in the regular spell ingredients, I sealed it with a braid-pattern friendship bracelet. Using red for courage, orange for motivation, and yellow for communication, I visualized each part working and weaving together to bring my friend that little push he needed to meet new people. You can get very complex with just using string and cords, especially if you do friendship bracelets or macrame. Look for a pattern that flows with your goal. Are you trying to ward something? Find or create a pattern that features symbols that you associate with warding. I would make something like this: (image source)

Maybe you’re planning a trip to the casino and you want a good luck charm. Take something you associate with success or “lucky” and incorporate it into something wearable. Personally, I would attach a small bell to whatever jewelry I make for the luck part, not unlike these:

(image source) Now, if you want to get even more intricate with your spellwork, you can start using beads made from stones and crystals that have meaning for you. A common and simple charm to attract love would be to wear a string of rose quartz beads. Add in knotwork to bind it all together with a string color that represents what you’re trying to attract. Here’s an example of of a shamballa style bracelet, made with rose quartz and pink cord that could be charged with the intent of attracting love: (image source)

All of these methods are able to be based on your personal associations and correspondences - use the symbols and colors that are relevant to you. You even can make your knotwork even more potent by dressing a small part of the finished product with an essential oil that corresponds with your goal. (The ittiest, bittiest, tiniest drop of oil is all that’s needed) This can all be expanded beyond knotwork, too. Make necklaces, rings, earrings, key chains, whatever you like. Finally, If you’re inclined and it’s appropriate for who you work with, knotwork can also be used as an offering for your deities. You can view it as a sacrifice of time spent working on the spell and use the finished product for decorating your altar or shrine. Or, you can destroy it, donate it, give it away- however the deity you work with prefers to accept offerings. That’s basically it. Have fun!

How To: Make Ink from Flowers

This is by far the most abundant ink I have in my house is that of inks made from flowers. This is the easiest and fastest inks to be made and require the least amount of materials to produce brilliant and soft colors. The inks from flowers can be either stunning and dark, or a lighter and more pale like one would expect from watercolor. Flower inks don’t last as long as inks produced from berries or nuts, and being left in the sunlight will fade their colors faster, but since this ink is so fast and easy to make, it can always be in supply. The shelf life of this ink is about a month if kept in the dark, but this is dependent on the color itself.

Materials:

Glass containers (preferably mason jars or drinking cups)

A pestle or other wooden tool (to crush the flowers with)

Boiling water

Cheese cloth

Rubbing Alcohol or 100 Proof Vodka

Glass storage container

Optional: Gum Arabic

Steps:

First, gather the flower petals of choice for the color desired (note some flower ink isn’t the same color as the flower petals).

Take these petals and crush them into the glass container, stuffing as many as you can in 1/3rd of the container as possible. The more crushed the petals, the more color will come out.

Fill the container with just enough boiling water to barely cover the flower petals. Do not fill the container, as this will dull the ink.

Set this container aside to brew overnight (I actually leave mine in the window to brew for 24 hours).

Strain the flower petals from the liquid, pouring the colored ink into a clean glass storage container.

Add 1 part alcohol to the container and shake gently (do not shake hard enough to form bubbles).

Optional: You may add Gum Arabic to give the ink a thicker consistency.

A recommendations on flowers, I have found that roses and other soft petaled flowers make a stronger ink.

To make rosewater you need the following: 

Fresh roses, petals, buds, hips, and leaves.

3 parts vodka, gin, or witch hazel extract.

1 part distilled water.

A glass jar with lid.

Mix all of the items together and let sit for at least one week. Use in spells, as offerings, as a facial toner, as perfume, as a hair cleaner, or whatever else strikes your fancy.

The Wiccan’s Glossary

The Signs as Witches

Aries: uses bodily ingredients such as hair or teeth or nails, wild and free and howling at the moon, fire tells them what they want to know, embraces all but does not tolerate betrayal, gifted in the use of poppets and curses, full of energy and static and power

Taurus: a collector of many things, uses crystals and herbs, proficient in kitchen magic, has an inner strength that knows no bounds and no true master, a home full of colored glass and jars filled with anything you could ever need, rooted and able, wears robes with many many pockets

Gemini: a card reader and game changer, spoken spells fill the very air with magic and potential, an avid learner and sharer of their craft, books and tomes and candles fill their space, knows the power of words and names, tattoos sigils and spells all over their body and they seem to move when you aren’t looking, vast and uncontainable

Cancer: rests under the moon and whispers magic in their sleep, uses astral projection to explore and learn and play with ghosts, elaborate and detailed dream diary, deep understanding of astrology, somehow already knows what you’re going to say, mysterious and soft but only on the surface, a knower of secrets, sleepy eyes, lives in a tree in a misty forest and makes friends with the plants and spirits there

Leo: strongest in the day and has eyes that light up the night, mighty voice and skilled hands, breath carries a spark, animalistic energy you can feel when they look at you, makes their own spells borrows their own power, incredible visualization makes their dreams realities, difficult to look at directly for reasons you don’t really understand, wild hair and adorned in gems

Virgo: techno witch, weaves magic into code and text, keeps a blog as their book of shadows and altar, urban magic, has a restless mind and busy hands, deletes negativity out of their life, has much information to share despite their hollow look, eyes are lit from the inside, their phone is full of pictures that keep moving and notes only they can read

Libra: covered in veils and breathes perfume to hide themselves and confuse you, summons creatures and demons to do their bidding so their hands remain clean, almost transparent at times like a ghost or vision, is stronger than they look and delights in you not knowing their power, their mouth is almost always moving but you can’t hear what they say, soft to the touch but their skin is cold, trinkets and charms and chains adorn them and their home

Scorpio: eyes and nails are dark and caked in black, frequents graveyards and learns from the ghosts and crows, solitary witch who makes friends with bones, will help you learn what you want to know for a price, is afraid to sleep, quiet and haunted, is reborn each new moon, is full of knowing and fog and promise, takes a lock of hair from all they help, you feel them in your core

Sagittarius: rides their broom with reckless abandon, plays with the children on Halloween and shows them magic is real, their home has legs and never stays still, keeps many familiars and most are birds, gifted in charms and potions and sells their work with a smile, you can hear them laughing with the moon at night, chapped lips and wide eyes, magic is erratic and spontaneous and they couldn’t control it if they wanted to

Capricorn: loose black and gray clothing that flows when they walk, keeps a pouch of salt around their neck at all times, face is often covered or hard to see, protection spells and sigils are their innate ability, the floor trembles when they are angry, always watching watching watching, lives in a stone cottage covered with moss and scrawlings and carvings, other witches are silent around them out of fear and awe

Aquarius: hermit, storm witch, plays with rain and dances with lightning and shouts thunder, keeps trinkets and mementos in small jars around their bed, asks favors and learns from the clouds, raw and swift and ready to act, soft as a summer rain and cold as hail, hair is full of leaves and wind, feet are dirty but their mind is clean and sharp

Pisces: smells of salt and dressed in rags and burlap and pearls, misty eyes that look through you and deep deep down in you, water witch with a soft face and an ocean for a heart, thing of the sea, empath who sometimes knows you better than you do, bottles own tears and keeps them for spells, witch of all trades master of none, head is full of crashing waves, overflowing with magic and wonder

“She is the lover of all things that grow in the earth, and all their countless forms she holds in her mind, from the trees like towers in forests long ago to the moss upon stones or the small and secret things in the mould. In reverence Yavanna is next to Varda among the Queens of the Valar. In the form of a woman she is tall, and robed in green; but at times she takes other shapes. Some there are who have seen her standing like a tree under heaven, crowned with the Sun.”

- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion