Witchy Crafts

Apart of the Guild of Pagans Guild Book of Shadows.

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Scented Letters

Author: Marie A. Miczak
Published on: January 30, 2004

As the Internet continues to lose its newness and usurers their excitement, the age old art of letter writing is becoming a welcome trend. It might be the collective disgust over junk mail or the longing to feel something physical as you read. What ever the explanation more and more are seeking to write snail mail as opposed to electronic mail. In order to make a lasting impression, why not use the power of scent?

Using perfume to scent letters in nothing new. In fact it was often used to let the recipient know who the letter was from, even before they looked at the return address. You too can enjoy such admiration. Today we have a number of ways to scent stationery. In fact there is stationery which has already been scented by a few makers. Ground rose petals are actually incorporated into the paper making process. This is rare however. Most scented papers use chemicals and this may prove to be a problem if the person you are writing to is allergic to commercial perfumes. So essential oils of an Aromatherapy grade come into the picture.

Taking a new box of your favorite stationery, think to yourself and ask, “Do I want the same sent for all of my stationery or do I want to make special scents depending on my or my recipients mood?”. The aforementioned is of course much easier and you may wish to try your hand at this first. You have a number of options regarding scenting your stationery. One must be careful not to allow the staining quality of the essential oil to ruin your paper &/or envelopes. The popular way of scenting is to take a plastic bag or the box the stationery came in and at the corner affix a small ball of cotton or piece of absorbent cloth. This cloth or cotton being infused with a few drops of essential oil(s). Remember essential oils are highly concentrated and a little will permeate the paper nicely when in the confines of the bag or box. Another way is to lightly dab the inside top of box with essential oils and allow it to soak in. Then place the lid back on and let the stationery sit for a few weeks before use.

Still other ways include using scented crystals, using scented beads, using actual potpourri inside of your letters, storing your stationery with incense or with Aromatherapy scented candles or wax. You can even scent your ink if you like to use fountain or quill pens.

If you are going to be using the same scent as a signature scent, take the time to plan out your single note or formulation right. Make sure it is something you really enjoy or perhaps wear often now. You can also use special oils for male or female readers. For men try using orange, lemon, cinnamon leaf, bitter almond, peppermint or vanilla. For women try rose, lavender, myrrh or geranium. Remember being on the light side is good, you don't want to overpower your reader.

-MAM http://www.anakee.com

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Empowering Your Magical Crafts

. Determine your magical need.
  Remember, magic is never done for fun, or is it done to fulfill wishes. It is a serious practice used to satisfy your most basic needs. Once your need is determined, this will become your magical goal.

2. Determine the best craft or project to fulfill this need.
  Use your imagination with this. If you are a knitter and need a healing spell, knit a shawl with healing intent. When wrapped around the sick, your magic is enveloping them.

3. If possible, use only natural materials.
  Natural materials are the most potent. Nothing will hold power as well as natural materials.

4. Gather your supplies with your goal in mind.
  Visualize your goal while you gather. This is part of the spell.

5. Work on only one project at a time.
  Concentrate all your energies on the project at hand.

6. Create your craft with ritual intent.
  Visualize, say a short chant while you are working. Try to pick a place and time where you won't be distracted. ( In other words, don't watch t.v. while making your craft.)

7. Send energy into the craft during its creation.
  This should happen automatically if you are visualizing and/or chanting.

8. Use the completed project.
  When your craft is complete and empowered with your energy, use it in some ritual way. 

Any craft that you make can be used in a magical way. Happy crafting!!

By Iam

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How to Make a Witch Board

A Witch Board is basically an Ouija Board with several protection spells placed upon it. They are used for the same purpose, they have the same basic components, the only thing different are the spells placed upon it.
Using a Witch Borad is just like using a Ouija Board, some may find this evil, others, find it 'Satanic'. I believe it is neither. I find it to be a help tool in divintaion and spirit contact. Like all tools, it is the user which makes the board have a nature of useful or harmful. You should never use a Witch Board if you don't think you can control the sprits you will becon or if you feel unstable in general. The board is a tool like any other and your state of mind will rub off upon it.
Making a Witch Board is very simple and requires few materials and a lot of imagination. Remember, you'll get what you put into the board.
To make the Board you will need:
A boards of wood (I use a circular cut piece, but square is fine)
Markers/paint/crayons...any colors you want!! Be creative!
1 white candle
1 black candle
1 yellow candle
How to make:
Take your board of wood. It should be relatively smooth and evenly cut. Draw a sun on one side of the board (or another symbol you feel is appropriate to represent the God of your choice) and a moon on the other side (or another symbol you see as representing you Goddess of choice). Write the alphabet and numbers 0-9 on the board in any fashion you choose, be creative with it...make it look pretty. This should be a individual thing for everyone. I write mine in the shape of an arc which resembles an upturned cresent moon. Underneath the Sun, write a "NO", and underneath the Moon, write a "YES".
Next, flip the board over. You wil be casting a truth spell upon the board so that only truth may be spoken through the board. On the back of the board light the black and yellow candle.
Say:
"When a lie is told to you
When a untrue word is uttered
Tell no lies
Tell me truth
and nothing make it otherwise."

After the 13 minutes of burning the candles upon the back, extiguish the candles ( however it is you do this) and draw a pentacle on the back of the board. In the center of the pentacle, light the white candle. Place a protection spell upon the board.
To do the protection spell, I say something like:
"Protect this board
Protect it from harm.
Protect this board
Protect it's user from harm."

Let the white candle burn down on the board (it is best to use a tea candle or othe small candle so you dont have a lot of wax drippage).
The witch board is now done.

http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Arc/8776/ouija.html

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Flavored Sugar

Whether you are baking or sweetening your favorite drink, sugar flavored with herbs is a wonderful alternative to just plain sugar.

The really great thing, is they're easy to make! You'll need 2 cups of sugar, and anywhere from a cup to two cups of herbs. Place sugar in a bow. Add herbs. Mix until nicely blended and then pour into a air tight container. Let it sit for a day or two and voila! Flavored sugar. The sugar will absorb the flavors in the herbs.

One of my favorite herbs to flavor sugar with is lavender. Using lavender in sugar allows me to make delicious teas, and delightful sugar cookies with just a hint of lavender. When making lavender sugar, you can use lavender buds, or, you can place a stem (including leaves and buds) or two in the sugar. When baking, replace the sugar in the recipe with the flavored sugar.

I also like to use lavender flavored sugar in chamomile tea. This is my favorite thing to drink before going to bed. Lavender and chamomile are two of the best herbs to help relax you. Add the warmth of the tea and you're in for a restful night!

Two more herbs that I love to use to flavor sugar are peppermint and spearmint. You can create peppermint sugar, spearmint sugar, or use both peppermint and spearmint to create a “double mint” flavored sugar. Peppermint sugar is phenomenal to bake with, and of course you can use it in teas. What I like to do with peppermint sugar is use it in iced tea. It gives a mild minty-ness to the tea. On a hot summer night, it's the perfect refreshment!

Another flavored sugar that is perfect for tea is Rose flavored sugar. Simply shred or bruise 2 cups of rose petals. Add to 2 cups of sugar and let stand for a few days. I love this in plain black tea. I also love to make shortbread with this sugar. I love having tea parties with my daughter using Roses as our theme. Yummy Rose flavored shortbread and delicious Rose tea; it's such a great way to relax in the afternoon.

You can adjust the amount of herbs and sugar you use based on your taste preferences. If you want stronger flavor, use more herbs. You can also use any herbs that you like in your sugar. Experiment and see how you like it!

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THREE KINDREDS PRAYER BEADS
A Druid Devotional
by Oakwyse

In celebration of the completion of my Bardic Year, I offer to OBOD this gift of my Three Kindreds Druid Prayer Beads. It is a devotional practice that has served me well, and I hope it may be a boon to my sisters and brothers.

These beads, and the prayers that go with them, honor the Three Kindreds: The Ancestors, spirits of the ancient dead; The Earth Spirits who share this world with us; and the Gods and Goddesses, or the Shining Ones. All of the Kindreds are manifestations of the Holy.

It is best to string your own beads. Here is one suggestion, but feel free to substitute whatever speaks to you. (The main beads might be stone, glass, wood, or other natural objects. The beads may be whatever color you choose, rather than the white, red and black shown below. My own beads are made from corn seeds and a cowry shell. I made a second set from green glass beads with shamrocks on them--from an old rosary!-and a silver pentacle with stag's head for the medallion.)


One Suggestion
13 white 8mm beads for the Gods & Goddesses
13 red 8mm beads for the Earth Spirits
13 black 8mm beads for the Ancestors
1 gold 10mm bead representing the Sun
52 gold spacer beads
(class "E" 6/0) representing the Sunlight.
  
Nylon thread clear, monofilament



You may begin and end stringing anywhere in the loop, but the tie-off is less visible in the midst of the black beads. Use at least a double strand of thread, and wax it before stringing.

The gold Sun bead is separated from the white God/Goddess beads by four (4) gold spacer beads. Each white God/Goddess bead is followed by one gold spacer bead, but the thirteenth bead is followed by four (4) spacer beads. Then come the red Earth Spirits beads, each followed by one gold spacer, but the 13th bead is followed by four (4) spacers. Then come the black Ancestors beads, each followed by one gold bead, but the 13th is followed by four (4) spacers. And so we are back at the gold Sun bead.

In other words, beads of the same color are separated by one spacer. The three sets of beads and the larger Sun bead are separated by four spacers. Thirteen (13) beads are used in each set to signify the thirteen months of the lunar year. The gold spacers represent sunlight issuing from the Sun bead throughout the Three Kindreds of Ancestors, Earth Spirits, Gods & Goddesses.

Prayers are said on each bead, while meditating on the mysteries of the Three Kindreds, and the experience of human life.

PRAYERS FOR YOUR DRUID BEADS
(with thanks to Ian Corrigan after whom the Kindreds prayers are partly modeled)


On the gold Sun Bead say (from "The Holly and the Ivy):
By the rising of the Sun
and the running of the Deer,
and the blowing of the merry horn,
Three Kindreds I call near!

On the space say:
I bind unto my self today the
Memory of the Ancestors.

On each Ancestor Bead say:      Meditate of the Presence of the Ancestors
Ancestors, Ancient Ones,
Remember me as I remember you.
Old Ones, hear my prayer,
And accept my offering of love.

On the space say:
I bind unto myself today the
Comradeship of all Earth Spirits

On each Earth Spirit Bead say:      Meditate on the Presence of the Earth Spirits
Fur and feather, leaf and stone,
Aid me as I aid you.
Earth Spirits, hear my prayer,
And accept my offering of love.

On the space say:
I bind unto myself today the
Honor of the Gods and Goddesses.

On each God and Goddess Bead say:      Meditate on the Presence of the Shining Ones
Gods and Goddesses, Shining Ones,
Honor me as I honor you.
First-born of Earth Mother, hear my prayer,
And accept my offering of love.

On the space say:
I bind unto myself today the
The presence of the Three Kindreds.

Returning to the gold Sun Bead conclude:
I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the starlit Heavens,
The glorious Sun's life-giving ray,
The whiteness of the Moon at even;
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling Wind's tempestuous shocks;
The stable Earth, the deep salt Sea,
Around the old eternal Rocks.                 So may it be.

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