Sexy Witch

by LaSara FireFox

  My blend recipes are guidelines. Experiment to make them work for you. There is no universal magickal formula. Always test your creations (including the ones based on my recipes, obviously) before using them in ritual space. And, a word of warning: Powdered incense burns quickly, and produces a lot of smoke. Use it sparingly but often. A little dab’ll do ya!

  Blend One: Devotion

  Rose (love, healing, protection), copal (love and purification), and frankincense (protection, exorcism, spirit).

  • Dried rose petals.

  • Copal resin, either powdered or unprocessed.

  • Frankincense resin, either powdered or unprocessed.

  • Mortar and pestle.

  • Storage bottle.

  Mix equal parts copal and frankincense, and a third as much dried rose petals. Put in mortar, and grind until uniform. As you grind the materials, focus on the properties of the substances you are mixing. Use intention to create the magick of the incense.

  Blend Two: Purely Empowered

  Copal (love and purification), ylang ylang (peace, happiness, mood elevation), allspice (willpower, healing, courage), and benzoin (success, knowledge, stabilization).

  • Copal resin, either tears or powdered.

  • Benzoin resin, either tears or powdered.

  • Allspice, ground or crushed.

  • Ylang ylang oil, pure or in an organic base.

  • Mortar and pestle.

  • Mixing bowl.

  • Storage bottle.

  Mix equal parts copal and benzoin in the mortar, and add one-third part allspice. Mix with pestle until of a uniform, coarsely powdered consistency. Pour powdered mixture into mixing bowl, and add a few drops of ylang ylang oil. Mix. The blend will become crumbly and gummy as the powder absorbs the oil. It will remain this way. This mixture burns a bit more slowly than straight powder, but you should still use it sparingly.

  Blend Three: Inner Vision

  All ingredients listed here have meditative and clairvoyant properties. This incense is not going to make your house smell all nice and pretty, but it will help you get into an altered state of consciousness that will make visualization and meditation easier and more effective.

  The last two items listed, tobacco and henbane, are toxic in large quantities, so use sparingly. For the tobacco, try to get unprocessed, raw tobacco leaves. The henbane you may be able to find at a botanica or a magickal supply store, or you can order it on the web. If you do not want to use the toxic components, you may just leave them out, or you may replace them with any of the following: thyme, poppy flowers, juniper, eyebright, or sage. The mixture may not be as strong, but it will still work fine.

  • Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium). Wormwood leaves can be purchased at magickal supply stores or on-line.

  • Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris). Mugwort leaves can be purchased at magickal supply stores or on-line. Caution: contact with mugwort may cause dermatitis.

  • Bay laurel leaves. Whole leaves can be purchased in the spices section of the grocery.

  • Cedar. Dried cedar can be wildcrafted and dried or purchased at magickal supply stores.

  • Yarrow. Yarrow flowers can be purchased at magickal supply stores or health food stores. Caution: contact with yarrow may cause dermatitis.

  • Cinnamon. Powdered cinnamon can be purchased in the spices section of the grocery.

  • Nutmeg. Powdered nutmeg can be purchased in the spices section of the grocery.

  • Tobacco (toxic!). Use whole, dried, unprocessed leaves, if possible. They can be purchased at magickal supply stores or on-line.

  • Henbane (toxic!). Henbane leaves can be purchased at magickal supply stores or on-line.

  • Mortar and pestle.

  • Mixing bowl.

  • Storage bottle.

  Mix equal parts wormwood and mugwort with the mortar and pestle. Add one whole dried bay leaf, crumbled. Add a generous pinch of cedar, and a generous pinch of yarrow. Grind and mix with pestle until the mixture is of uniform consistency. Once uniform and fairly powdery, add a pinch of cinnamon and a small pinch of nutmeg. Mix, and pour this mixture into the mixing bowl. Next, take a small portion of the tobacco leaf and a small bit of henbane, and put in the mortar. Mix with the pestle until the mixture is uniform. Add to the mixing bowl pinch by pinch, according to feel.

  Wines

  If you have a favorite ritual wine, use it. Otherwise, I recommend that you try different wines for different rituals. Think about what fits for you. If you want a sweet, fruity wine (perhaps for ritual one: Your Body Is a Temple, and ritual five: Coming to Our Senses), try a Muscat (sweet, fruity), Port (sweet to crisp, rich) or Sherry (sweet, fruity, sometimes floral). If you want a deep red wine (perhaps for ritual four: The Descent), try a Shiraz (spicy, smooth), Cabernet (woody, deep), or Chianti (rich, complex). For ritual seven: Goddess in the Mirror (Completion), I suggest champagne or sparkling wine, to invoke the spirit of celebration!

  Cookies, Cakes, Bread, and Other Edibles

  Ritual cakes are generally small, cookie-like cakes, made by hand for the purpose of the ritual being performed. If you have the time and energy, I recommend creating your ritual cakes from scratch, and decorating them with appropriate symbols for the week’s ritual. This may be done by the Priestess pro tem, or as a group project, if you are working with a group.

  If you do not have the time or energy to commit to making your own cakes, you may buy something simple, yet sufficient, at the store. We used store-bought ginger snaps in a ritual group with which I worked dark moon ritual for a thirteen-moon cycle. The ginger snaps looked like dark moons, and they were yummy, too! So, you can find ready-to-purchase items that work.

  Again, I want to say, though, that there’s something to making your devotional offerings with your own hands. If you can do this at least once (perhaps for the first ritual, to see if it’s a good fit), I really recommend it. It’s possible (and often totally intuitive) to work a lot of magick into the cakes as you make them. Think of the movie Like Water for Chocolate. If you haven’t seen that movie, see it! It’s all about kitchen alchemy.

  As you decorate the cakes, you can make this part of your ritual dedication. If you choose this route, here are symbols to work with for each week’s ritual:

  Ritual One: Temple.

  Ritual Two: Breasts.

  Ritual Three: Yoni.

  Ritual Four: Uterus.

  Ritual Five: Spiral.

  Ritual Six: Stars.

  Ritual Seven: Gateway, threshold, or Witches’ broom.

  You can find recipes for making magickal or ritual cakes on the internet, or you can create your own recipe, using any cookie recipe that you like as a starting point. If you are a natural-born “Kitchen Witch,” start from scratch and see what you can do! Some good choices as starting points for intuitive Kitchen-Witchery include corn meal mixed with wheat flour, honey as sweetener, and wine for flavor and charge.

  You may make savory cakes or sweet ones, depending on your desires and the work at hand. Either way, you may use seasonings, herbs, and other items that will amp up the work being done in a given ritual. For instance, in the cakes for Ritual Two: I Love Me!, you may want to include some rose water for love and healing.

  Some of the rituals call for additional foods. That is covered in the ritual outlines in part 2.

  Cakes of Light

  Cakes of light are a Thelemic obsession. If you are adventurous, committed to Thelemic magick, or just curious, give it a go.

  “For perfume, mix meal & honey & thick leavings of red wine: then oil of Abramelin and olive oil, and afterward soften & smooth down with rich fresh blood.”

  —Liber Al vel Legis (The Book of the Law by Aleister Crowley), III:23

  If you want to know more, check here:

  http://www.billheidrick.co
m/tlc1991/tlc0191.htm#hyatm. It offers the best advice I have yet found on the topic of how to actually make cakes of light.

  Disposing of Ritual Offerings

  To dispose of leftover ritual foods and drink (just what’s in the chalice, not what’s in the bottle; that may be used for future ritual . . . or polished off in ritual space if there are enough of you to drink it!), you may leave extra offerings out for the spirits/faeries/critters, you may cast them into a forested area, or you may use them to fertilize your favorite plants or your garden.

  Correspondences: Quarters, Elements, Directions, and Other Entities

  East = Air

  Inspiration, communication, breath, clarity, vision.

  South = Fire

  Passion, transformation, heat, sexuality, desire.

  West = Water

  Emotion, birth, death, spirits, surrender, moist, flowing.

  North = Earth

  Wisdom, solidity, grace, depth, grounding, ancestors, stability.

  Center = Core

  Spirit, consciousness, focus, focal point, axis, inside.

  Above = Sky or Heavens

  Above/Sky/the Heavens is often seen as the Father aspect of the Mother/Father duality in many traditions. Sky, Father, God, Zeus, Jehovah, Judgment, guidance.

  Below = Planet Earth

  Below/Planet Earth is often seen as the Mother aspect of the Mother/Father duality.

  Essential Oil Correspondence Chart

  This is a mini-list. There are tons of essential oils out there. Again, these are my personal correspondences for these oils. You may have a totally different relationship with the oils listed than I do. Trust yourself. Purchase a few oils, and write down the images and emotions that come to mind when you smell them. Truly, I would rather that you didn’t even read this chart . . . just gather your own associations, and use your oils accordingly. However, if you need some help, here’s a starting point for you.

  • Amber: Grounding, sensual awareness.

  • Jasmine: Sex, money, prophesy, power, secrets, night.

  • Lavender: Peace, calming, relaxation, healing.

  • Rose: Love, whether romantic, sexual, soulful, or all of these! Peace, beauty, dedicated to Aphrodite. (Rose oil is expensive when you get the good stuff, but it goes a long way.)

  • Rosemary: Focus, healing, purification, protection.

  • Sandalwood: Earth, clarity, sensual awareness, strength.

  • Tangerine: Power, strength, energy, excitement.

  • Ylang ylang: Peace, calming, sensuality, mood revitalizer, depression fighter.

  Foot Bath

  Ahhh, one of the nicest things you and a friend can do for one another. So easy, too!

  What You Will Need

  • A friend to trade roles with.

  • A basin. A plastic dish washing tub is fine. The only requirement: your feet need to fit.

  • Hot water.

  • Nice, clean foot towels.

  • Foot lotion or other soothing, thick, creamy oil.

  Optional items:

  • Epsom or other bath salts.

  • Oils. Bath oils, olive oil, jojoba, etc.

  • Essential oils. A few drops will do.

  • Foot-scrubbing products.

  • Loofa sponge.

  • Pumice stone.

  • Calendula or lavender flowers, rose petals.

  If you wanna get really fancy, and add in a pedicure:

  • Cuticle cream.

  • Nail file.

  • Nail polish.

  How-To

  • Set the tub in front of a chair. Your friend should be sitting in the chair.

  • Fill the tub with nice, warm water.

  • Add other items.

  • Wash and rub your friend’s feet, while telling her all the things you love about her, and especially making a magickal act of honoring her feet, and the path she walks upon.

  • Massage your friend’s feet, toes, calves. Use scrubby stuff, if you want.

  • Dry feet.

  • Massage feet and calves with foot lotion.

  • Optional: follow with pedicure.

  • And switch!

  Sensual Bath Salts

  • Two cups Epsom salt, Dead Sea salts, or other mineral salts.

  • Mixing bowl.

  • Storage container, if you are not going to use right away. The two-cup measurement is good for one use. You may increase the amounts in this recipe if you want more than one use.

  • Mortar and pestle for grinding flowers and herbs (optional).

  To this base you may add any essential oil blend that you like to bathe with (sandalwood, rose, ylang ylang, lavender). You may also add dried flowers (lavender, rose petals, calendula) and herbs (basil, mugwort, rosemary, mint). Mix in the bowl, making sure that all materials are fairly evenly distributed. You may grind the flowers and herbs if you don’t like having full leaves, petals, or flower heads in your bath.

  If you prefer not to have the herbal solids floating in your bath, you may instead make an herbal mix and put it in a fine mesh bag. Add this bag of herbs to the bath water.

  Optional Sensual Bath Additions

  Clay

  You may use a clay beauty mask mix, or you may use raw or dried clay or mineral mud. This additive is great for purifying and softening the skin.

  Whole Milk

  Milk is perfect for soothing, clarifying, and softening the skin. Use about one quart, warmed.

  Calendula Flowers, or Calendula Milk

  Calendula softens and conditions the skin. To make calendula milk, just add one-half to one cup dried calendula flowers to the warming milk. Allow it to steep until the milk is a warm, golden color.

  Honey

  Honey is mildly astringent, antibacterial, moisturizing, and purifying. Use two to four tablespoons. Heat first to liquefy, then add to warm bath water.

  Oil

  If you have dry skin, adding oil to your bath water is a great way to reduce the drying effects of water. You may use almond, jojoba, or olive oil. Jojoba is luxurious but pricey. Almond is light, versatile, and affordable. Olive is heavier. A little bit goes a long way.

  You may also infuse oils with different herbs or flowers. You can find the directions for this on web sites and in many herbal books.

  You may also use almond or jojoba oil to stretch your pure essential oils. To do so, partially fill a one-ounce bottle with oil, then add a few drops of whatever essential oil you want to stretch. You can figure out your ratios by feel. Keep a chart and track your progress if you like, so that you won’t have to figure the ratio out again each time you create a blend. The diluted oil won’t be as intense as the pure oils, but with some essential oils this is a really good thing! Never use lemon oil, for example, directly on your skin or in your bath unless it has been diluted.

  Devotion Oil

  You will use this oil in ritual seven, and in your daily practice for chapter seven. Who knows, it may even become your “signature scent.” You may wear it whenever and wherever you like, and it will have the power to remind you of the Goddess you are! Choose the oils based on scent, attribution (you can decide what oils best invoke the qualities you want to devote yourself to), intuition, or feeling. Here’s what you will need:

  • A one-ounce glass bottle with a cap. You can get this sort of bottle at many health food stores, or you can order them on-line.

  • A small funnel. The opening must fit in the neck of the one-ounce bottle.

  • Up to three of your favorite essential oils.

  • Almond, jojoba, or grape seed oils as a carrier oil.

  Fill the bottle about two-thirds full with the carrier oil. To create the right mix, start by adding only a few drops of each of the essential oils to
the carrier oil. Add to your own liking, until you have created a personalized scent that is all yours!

  The Vow of the Bodhisattva

  The Vow of the Bodhisattva is a Buddhist vow that comes from two branches of Buddhism: Mahayana and Vajrayana. This is a vow to remain embodied, to forgo Nirvana, or enlightenment, until all beings have reached enlightenment. It is a vow of love and compassion for all beings, based in the belief that our continuing to return to the earthly plane and to practice the Way of the Buddha, life after life, will assist all in reaching Buddhahood.

  Here is another adaptation of the vow that is truer to the original form, but is still interfaith.

  Beings are without number. I vow to be one.

  Suffering is inexhaustible. I vow to extinguish it.

  Paths to enlightenment are innumerable. I vow to walk them.

  Enlightenment is not a goal. I vow to achieve it.

  For more information on the Bodhisattva Vow (including links to more traditional versions of it), Buddhism, and the Tibetan Bodhisattva and Goddess Tara, please see Appendix III.

  [contents]

  appendix ii

  A Compendium of S/heroes

  Okay, so maybe s/heroes sounds a little dorky, or, even worse, revisionist. What word would you prefer that I use? Heroine? I just can’t. I have a couple of reasons why. One is that I don’t want to be reminded of a drug—heroin—every time I think of or talk about the women I admire. The other is the “–ine” part. It just makes female heroes sound more dainty, flowery, and weak. I’m not down!

  Technically, hero is a word that may be used for male or female heroes, but it’s not generally used that way. Hero is almost always used to describe a man. English is a living language! It’s evolved massively lately. I say let’s use some of the current fluidity to create new terms for women. So, s/heroes it is, for now. You’ll get used to it! Maybe in a decade or so, we can all use the word heroes and know that it applies to both men and women.

  Each category in this compendium has three subcategories: “Archetypes,” “Historical Figures,” and “Current Pop-Culture Icons.” I hope you will enjoy researching the names I have listed, and the occasional mini-bio I have provided. I hope also that you will be inspired by this work to seek out more information on the lives of any s/heroes who really reach out to you, whatever the context. Maybe this will inspire you to take time to interview your mother, or look up your third-grade teacher. There are s/heroes everywhere!