Using Botanicals to Dye Magical Textiles

{I had originally posted this over at the Unfettered Wood blog, but I figured some of the nefaeria readers might enjoy it too.} 

A few days ago I did some natural dyeing, so I thought that I would share a wee bit about that in case other folks would be inspired to give it a go. Please keep in mind that there are different ways that one can dye textiles with botanicals, this is just they way that I have been comfortable with.

There are a few things that all methods have in common:

1. Extracting colour
2. Fixing colour
3. Transferring colour

I would highly recommend people going through the resources that I will put at the end of this post to get more ideas to see what works for them.

The whole purpose of me doing this was to infuse the magical properties of the plants into the textiles, as well as obviously leave some colour on them as well.

  

For this batch the actual magical properties of the plants were of more importance to me than the colour. I wanted something that could be a good general purpose textile and wasn't quite sure how the colours would turn out. In one of the extra resources at the bottom of this post, there is a list of different plants and the colours they give off.

For fresh ingredients this is not necessary, but berries apparently benefit having a soaking in vinegar before simmering. This is a good time to do a blessing over the plant materials should you wish to, or to "charge" them with intent.

Using cold water is best to add for the vinegar, and after simmering giving the fabric a good rinse in cold water {water it runs clear} is needed. Other methods call for the fabric to be wet before putting it in with the dye wash, so this takes care of both the fixative and that step. Other fixatives are sometimes added to the actual dye wash or used to treat the textile afterwards. Learn more about fixative in the resources below.

Other methods call for a lower simmering time, depending on the materials being used. Sometimes fixatives, such as salt are added at this stage.

This is probably not a must, but it will make stage six a whole lot easier. As you will see in the follow photos, I did not strain all of the plant material out; some of it stuck to the fabric, which I just shook off outdoors once I was finished drying them out. I put the strained off bits into the compost.

The textile I used was a natural coloured cotton linen and I left it in the dye wash for a couple of hours. I shifted it around every once and a while with a pair of tongs. If handling, it is best to used a pair of rubber gloves so you don't dye your hands!

Before removing from the dye bath, carefully squeeze out as much of the liquid as you can. To get the concentrated veins of colours, I left my fabric bunched in a pile on a dish drying rack {made black rubber, no risk of it staining!} over night. Then I dried out flat on our clothesline.



Extra resources:

Using Natural Plant Dyes by Kate Aimson {from White Dragon Magazine}
Natural Dyes: Their History and How to Make Them by Varenya
Making Natural Dyes from Plantsfrom Pioneer Thinking {has a great list of plants and the colours they give off}

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a comparison of my linen before dyeing {top} and after dyeing {bottom}

It was exciting to see what the finished product would be and I am quite fond of the yellows, rusts and browns that came out in the linen. I will be using some of it in an upcoming project that I will post about later, as well as using some for charm bags and pouches.

For those who don't want to make your own, but would like some magical textiles, I will be listing some of this batch in the Unfettered Wood shop and I am happy to take custom orders.

Sláinte!

Laurel

lessons from the garden {unwelcome guests edition}

original image by travellinggirl2010

Just like every other gardening season that has gone by, I have learned a few more lessons from/in the garden, and this year's theme has been unwelcome guests. Some of these lessons are from my own experiences and others are from friends. I thought that I would share them with you dear readers, so you may avoid future these pains. ;)

1. If you have a wild & witchy garden, it is probably a good idea not to have church ladies who happen to be formal garden aficionados over to visit during the growing season. They will try to exorcise you of the Devil, and exorcise your garden of weeds {read: anything that is not a peony, orchid or rose is fair game!} while you're inside getting drinks for everyone. 
2. Don't invite over self-professed design snobs if your patio furniture textiles happen to not match your tomatoes {luckily this lesson was taught in a friend's garden; if the design snob had come over to my place, they probably would have fainted at the sight of our "patio furniture", which is just camping chairs!}.
3. Light sensors and wielding gardening shears are good deterrents when dealing with drunken assholes who like to "water" your front garden after an evening at the local bar.
4. "Piss-off" plants are a great way to keep neighbourhood kitties from using your garden as a litter box {recommended by a friend}.
5. Earwigs are truly evil incarnate. This year they did a number on some of my young perennial plants and a whole bunch of my annuals. While I was a bit late, I found strategically placed traps {shallow containers with some water and a wee bit of olive oil} kept them under control.
6. Fences are sometimes not enough to keep thieves and peeping toms out of your backyard. Having lots of thorny bushes and nettles where they are likely to hop over the fence will make them think twice next time. 
7. And finally some advice from a friend {for fellow witchy folk}: having signage politely informing people that a witch resides at your place and that if people fuck with your garden, they may very well be blasted into next week. Apparently this has effectively kept the idiots who used to vandalize her garden on their best behaviour.

Have any tips or "unwelcome garden guests" stories? Feel free to share them in the comment section.

Sláinte!

Laurel

McFlying Ointment

It has been a while since I have done a ranty post… 

My Dear Fellow Pagans & Magical Practitioners,

I don’t know if it is just me, but I have been noticing a big increase in people selling products containing entheogens that are being marketed towards witchy folks. This bothers me and it scares the shit out of me at the same time.

Before I go into why, let me preface by saying this: I am not someone who “walks the poisoners’ path”. While a good part of my practice involves working with plants {and it might be even fair to say that it is “in my blood”}, my experience working with psychoactive plants is limited. I was lucky enough to shadow someone for a short time who has a rich knowledge and experience working with these types of plants, but I learned quite quickly that it was not for me. Any concoctions I made {such as flying ointment} has been for my own personal use. 

Many poison plants have found a place in my garden and in my apothecary; my relationship with them is just different from proper hedge witches or other practitioners who work with entheogenic plants for altered states. 

Anyways, I am not bothered that people work with these plants in this way or that they are selling products containing them. There are a small handful of people who I have been a customer of and a “fan” of their work who sell them. To me it is quite clear that they have experience and that they have an idea of what they are doing. 

My issue lays with inexperienced people who are making these products and selling them to others. Noobies trying to be “badass witches” by selling this stuff is not just annoying, it is fucked up and reckless. 

Case in point: 

There is a person on Youtube who has an online store that has started to sell items containing these kinds of plants. In a video while bragging that she is going to be selling flying ointments, she was handling potentially fatal plants on camera with very little care. She was rubbing her face up against some of them like it was a fuzzy little kitten and pretending she was going to eat one of them. Fucking stupid. {A rather ironic side note is that she was going on a tangent about people who change spiritual paths like they do underwear, yet one day she is a new age crystal healer, the next she is a necromancer and traditional witch, the next she is a chakra specialist, and now she is a folk magician with tonnes of experience working with “dark plants” and hoodoo.}

I suppose all I can add is that there is nothing wrong with being new at something, just admit that you are, know your limits and keep on learning. Besides, these are probably good tenets to go by for any worthy practitioner, whether they be neophyte or have ages of experiences. So please folks, be careful who you buy these types of products from! 

Below are some sources that I personally think are reputable: 

Alchemy Works  

Stang & Cauldron 

 If you know of any other reputable sources, please feel free to share them! 

Sláinte!

Laurel

harvests, chutneys & updates

Howdy folks! I hope that you all have been enjoying September so far!

Things have been extra busy 'round here, which is why I have been especially lax in posting. This is just a wee post about some of the goings-on in my garden, kitchen, and the witchy part of my life.

For the most part things in the garden have been going well, there has been lots of mini harvests and a few large ones.

{purple pole beans}

{black krim, orange blossom, red pear cherry, tigerella and marzano roma tomatoes}

{summer ball & acorn squash, along with some small sugar pumpkins. one of the pumpkin vines got damaged so I had to pick some early}

I have also been doing some herb harvests from the garden and some wildcrafting.

{stinging nettle}

{raspberry leaves}

Most of my kitchen adventures have been dedicated to preserving including trying to find ways to use some nasturtiums and green tomatoes. I made nasturtium honey along with three different types of green tomato chutneys that ended up going to to baggies to stored in the freezer:

{peach & nasturtium green tomato chutney, with some olive oil and nasturtium honey thrown in there for good measure}

{pear & wild ginger chutney with green pear cherry tomatoes, and some chives and olive oil}

{apple & mint green tomato chutney, with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar}

{nasturtium honey}

For more green tomato recipes you can check this post and this post.

The witchy news is that I have opened up a shop on Etsy for Unfettered Wood:

I will only be posting information about the shop if something "big" is going on like giveaways. If are interested in keeping up with it, you can always head on over to the Unfettered Wood blog, Tumblr or Facebook page. I will also link to the odd informational post over there; I think for the most part I will be posting things about my spiritual and magical practices over there along with writing about folklore. This blog will remain one for general gardening & homesteading, politics, opinions and rants.

Sláinte!

Laurel

The Healing

I thought that this was a neat little witchy film. :)

Knowing Identities

I had a fancy post I had been working on for this week's Pagan Blog Project featuring the letter K. Since I have not had the time to do a quality post, I hope that this mini-rant will suffice.

Anyhow, I came across these pair of ladies calling themselves The HedgeWitch Cooks. While they have lovely recipes on their website and I look forward to viewing more cooking episodes of theirs in the future, I am slightly confused on the whole hedgewitch thing.

It looks to me that they are equating hedgewitchery with cottage, kitchen or green witchery, when they are very different things. We can probably thank Rae Beth for that. I have seen this a lot lately. Like, to the point where hedgewitch has become completely bastardized.

Seriously, flaunting around titles just because they sound nifty is bad enough, but once you start making money from it...well, to me that is the moral equivalent of lifting one's skirt, squatting and pissing on a grave. They are disrespecting a set of traditions.

To be clear, I am not a hedgewitch myself. It is not something that I have the stones for, and I probably never will. I am quite happy with my "simple" hearthcraft and green witchery. So, on that note, I will let those who practice that particular craft speak for themselves. Check out the following links for more info:

The Cottage of a Hedgewytch

What is a Hedgewitch?

Hedge Witchery

Sláinte!

Laurel

P.S. All this aside, honestly the cooking show and website are worth a look.

Irish Charms & Spells

{This is an post for the Pagan Blog Project}

Below are a few traditional Irish spells and charms; the first two I have changed to suit my personal situation, the last one is in its original form. All of these charms and spells are from Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland by Francesca Speranza Wilde.

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To Attract Bees

{photo by Umberto Salvagnin}

Gather on Midsummer {the original calls for this on Bealtaine/May Day, so the change I made is due to the climate that I am in}:

foxglove
raspberry leaves
wild marjoram
mint
chamomile
valerian

Mix them in butter that is also made on Midsummer {original calls for Bealtaine/May Day}. Boil them altogether with honey. Rub the mixture on a small clay pot and place in the bottom of a bee box and the bees will soon come.

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Against Enemies

{royalty free photo}

The three things are of my evil adversary:

An evil gaze;

An evil tongue;

An evil mind.

The three things are of my Gods:

The merciful word;

The singing word;

And the good word.

May the power of these three sacred things be on all of those that I hold dear.

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A Charm for Safety

{photo by Dan Zen}

Pluck ten blades of yarrow, keep nine, and cast the tenth away for tithe to the spirits. Put the nine in your stocking, under the heel of the right foot, when going a journey, and evil will have no power over you.

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Sláinte!

Laurel

With the Stirrings of Spring Comes Mirth & Work

Happy Spring to you in the North & Happy Autumn to you in the South! :D

We got hit by a real warm spell last week and the snow is all gone. It seemed like just over night all of feathered friends were back and our green friends in the garden were starting to wake up.

{sweet woodruff, unidentified fern, lemon balm and comfrey}

In mid-March I started the first of our seeds including two different types of poppies, balloon flowers, white and blue and double pink columbines, scotch thistle, datura, swamp rose mallow, pink and double hollyhocks, and sweet williams.

All of the them {save the columbines} started germinating ahead of schedule. I will be starting another batch at the end of March and another in the beginning of April. I haven't quite figured out where they are all going to go as all of the prime window sill real estate is almost gone.

{"light purple" datura}

The inevitable Spring cleaning has been going on around here too. We have started to tidy up the yard and get it ready for the new beds to be dug out. The house has not escaped The Great Cleansing either.

During the waning of the Moon I made another batch of a "clearing wash". I am pretty sure that I shared the recipe here before, but I can't seem to find it. So, I will post it again for those who might want to give it a whirl.

{Herbs steeping in water}

This recipe calls for a tablespoon of each:

Sweet Woodruff
Rowan berries
Birch bark {please only harvest from fallen trees or naturally shed bark!}
Juniper berries
Cedar
Lemon Balm
Peppermint
Sweetfern
Thyme
Dandelion root
Witch Hazel
St. John's Wort
Sage

Boil 3 cups of water and pour over ingredients in a glass mason jar. Let it steep for 3 hours. Drain liquid through cheesecloth {I dispose of the plant material in the compost once I am done with it}. Put tea mixture in with cider or white vinegar into a clean glass jar that has a non-metal lid. Keep in a refrigerator {should last to 3 months with no issues}. To use mix with 3 parts water in a spray bottle or mop bucket.

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Recently I have added some new contented over at the Unfettered Wood blog that may be of interest to some of you:

Wonderful Maple Syrup: Some Lore & Customs

&

Poetic Weather Forecasting

I am also currently working on some other posts for that blog including one on traditional charms to ward off nightmares and on lunar and astrological gardening.

Sláinte!

Laurel

Luverly of the Week: Alraun by Matthew Venus

{Alraun by Matthew Venus}

While definitely meant for use, this alraun is truly a work of art!


This beauty can be found at the Etsy shop of Spiritus Arcanum. There you can also find many other magical wares as well.

Sláinte!

Laurel

Media Mix

This is just a quick post to share some awesomeness that I came across recently in my webby travels.

1. A great article from Mother Earth News on small space gardening.
2. A neat and interactive virtual tour of Acy-Romance, a Gaulish Iron Age village. {thanks Seren for the heads up}
3. A pretty good interview with Paul Huson, author of Mastering Herbalism and Mastering Witchcraft.
4. And below is an interview with Andy Letcher of Telling the Bees. {I don't know what I love more, the 'stache or the beautiful music! ;) }
   
   
   
   
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   Sláinte!
   
   Laurel
   

{e is for...} Everyday Rituals

{a wee contribution to the Pagan Blog Project}

After rising and making myself a little more presentable, before coffee or seeing what is going on in the world, the first thing I do in the morning is make an offering of thanks to all of Those I work with and Who protect our household. It is a quick and simple ritual consisting of lighting a candle, saying a prayer and a small offering.

This is the first of many rituals throughout my day. Being someone with a relatively short attention span, I also like to keep them short and sweet {there are not too many ceremonial rituals happening at my hands!}.

I am sure that many would bulk at the idea of doing multiple devotionals and blessings every day. To them it probably seems to be the jurisdiction of members of some religious order that are tucked away from the world. This is not the case for me though.

In my view there is no difference between the "mundane" and the "sacred". They are both inseparable. For those who see spirit dwell in all things and in all places, and who can feel purpose in every aspect of life, this will probably make sense. They might also see the sense in saying a blessing over a garden or giving a prayer and offering of thanks for a meal.

One could fairly say that for me ritual is routine; however it is certainly not devoid of meaning. I find life is a lot more enjoyable when there is intent behind my actions, as opposed to just going through the motions.

Tending to my home and land is no longer drudgery, but a series of spiritual acts. Besides, hearth-keeper sounds much more pleasant than housewife. ;)

On the subject of rituals, you should go give this wonderful post The Meaning of Ritual a read.

Sláinte!

Laurel

Introducing Unfettered Wood & Some Updates

In a somewhat plodding fashion I have been working on a project that I have been planning for a long time now. Finally after smoothing out some final details I am now offering my folk magic services to the wider public.

If you are interested in finding out more, please feel free to check out the Unfettered Wood website. I have also created a blog for Unfettered Wood, which people might be interested in reading, even if only for the information about Paganism and witchcraft {content coming soon!}.


Between that, preparing for the upcoming growing season and Imbolc, I have had little time to get into too much trouble!

We still have what has seem to become our "central" altar set up for Imbolc, leaving Brigid her daily offerings there instead of in kitchen, which is the usual station for her wee shrine.


On the Eve of Imbolc I left out a some offerings along with some items in the hopes that Brigid would stop by and bless them on the balcony that is just off of our bedroom.

There were some "signs" that she may have visited, and one admittedly unnerved me a bit. Perhaps it is a bit typical of me to wish for something like that and once I get what appears to be a tangible sign I start shitting bricks! ;)

{some of the items that were left out on the balcony to be blessed}

My sweetie got me a nice little Brigid's cross from Laura Travis' Etsy shop, which arrived right on Imbolc. It was nice that I didn't have to struggle to make one this year, because rush weaving skills I have not.

I will be starting some seeds very soon, after the local seed exchange this upcoming Saturday {stop by if you are in the area!}. :D Which reminds me, and I found a nifty seed starting guide over at the Little City Farm blog.

Sláinte!

Laurel

Freezing Weather, Warm Hearts

I hope that all of our readers had a wonderful holiday and are having a great 2012 so far! The last few weeks have been a blend of merriment, exploration and a little hard work.

Being Winter in Northern Ontario, it is safe to say that it has been very cold with plenty of the white stuff on the ground. So lots of shoveling, with the reward of some hot cider after battling with the piles of snow. ;)


We have been settling nicely into our new place, but one of the few drawbacks here is some of the windows are old and do not keep the heat in. This is something our landlord promised to remedy next Spring. One of the nice surprises is the visits from Old Jack Frost...his kisses look like a woodland scene to me. <3


Besides getting to know the quirks of our house, I have been braving the cold to explore our new area a little more. Which reminds me, if you live in a similar climate, nothing keeps tootsies warm like alpaca socks {!!!}. Every year we get a few pairs, and they are purchased from the wonderful folks at Back to the Garden Alpacas as well as Misty Haven Alpacas.

The lake has been completely transformed from this to what I can only describe as a ghostly tundra.


But our lane way definitely looks more welcoming.


A little while back, Ms Graveyard Dirt put a call out encouraging Pagans, Witches and other lovely magical folks to have a "Holy Supper" in honour of the Ancestors. {This is something that my household does around Yuletide anyways, especially since the passing of my Grandparents. Even though this isn't one of the cross-quarter days that I technically celebrate, Christmas has always been a tradition in my family, and a holiday that I know was important to my "immediate" Ancestors.} Anyhoo, I thought that this was a wonderful idea and signed up to participate.

While we did set food aside as offerings during our family Christmas dinner, I do like to have another one where our Ancestors are the guests of honour. Plus, that means more feasting and merriment for us. ;)

So I went at it in the kitchen,

{some of the last of our carrots from last year's garden}

and brought out our best and favourite dishes,

{a house warming gift from a friend. ain't it purrty? :D}

and ended up having colcannon, roast veggies, stuffing, oatmeal biscuts, mincemeat tarts, shortbread, along with plenty of mead, cider & whiskey.



Queen of baking I am not, so when something I bake turns out well I get a little giddy. This was the case for the shortbread I made, so I thought that I would share the recipe.

There are a few Irish cream shortbread recipes online, and this is my spin on it. I started with a part of a shortbread recipe found in Irish Food and Cooking by Biddy White Lennon & Georgina Campbell.

Irish Cream Shortbread

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup butter, softened
6 tbsp sugar*
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
6 tbsp Baileys Irish Cream

In a bowl cream sugar and butter. Whip up until it's light and fluffy. Then stir in vanilla and almond extracts along with the Irish cream. Add in flour and cocoa butter and work the mix {I find this is a job for bare hands} until it's smooth. Place dough in an oiled 9 inch pie plate and bake at 350 for about 25-30 minutes.

*the recipe in Irish Food and Cooking called for caster sugar, but Cocoa Camino's cane sugar worked fine for me.

Well, that is all for now. Stay warm folks!

Sláinte!

Laurel