Kitchen Witchery: Elminx's Anti-anxietea

Pesto.Mystic

Violet Experiments, 2022

May has been a long and winding month. As always happens when everything blooms at once, I ran out of time to do all of the things and, more

May has been a long and winding month. As always happens when everything blooms at once, I ran out of time to do all of the things and, moreover, to write about all of the things. I’m feeling very behind (that may just be Mercury retrograde talking). I did manage to carve out some time for violets, my absolute favorite early spring edible. I’ve been working with violets for two years now – I’ve written in the past about my violet syrup experiments (which were relatively successful) and I also made a violet cordial, violet drinking vinegar, and violet sugar cookies (which were less successful – not inedible but not really what I wanted.)

As fate would have it, my perfect violet picking day was May Day proper. I had a number of helpers – friends who were all helping to collect dandelions for our May Day feast and a little bit extra (violets for me). My friends have all willingly signed up on my journey to eat all of the edible flowers so the promise of future violet edibles was all the encouragement they needed. With extra hands, picking enough to make violet syrup and then some was easy and so I set out to make violet jelly as well.

Both the violet jelly (featured here in the front) and the violet syrup (back pouring bottle) have been a smashing success. Violet jelly is what I have been missing in my life – the flavor is so deep and purple. (I know, descriptive, right?) The jelly has been great with a charcuterie plate (really good on salted meats and cheeses) and it makes a pretty great addition to a cheese danish, too! Truth be told, I like it BETTER than the violet syrup which I have found to be a bit finicky.

If you’ve been following along for a while, you’ll know that I have a serious thing for cocktail syrups. My go-to is to make them into a gin sour with a good solid juniper-forward gin and some freshly squeezed lemon juice. That is one of my staple cocktails so I know my recipe isn’t the problem but honestly, I haven’t particularly liked the violet syrup in that application. A lot of my others have so I’ve kept making the cocktail but up until last week, I wouldn’t have skipped the cocktail syrup for that jelly any day.

That all changed in a moment. I was staying at a hotel on the beach in Cape Cod with my partner, my coven mate, and her partner. We didn’t know what to make for a drink – it was hot. We knew that a tiki drink was in order. But what?

We surveyed our assets: aged rum with pineapple and lime juice sounds like a tiki drink, right? My partner used some Google magic and came up with an absolutely perfect summer cocktail. It called for aged rum, those two juices, Aperol (which I had thrown in our bags on a complete lark), and simple syrup. We happened to have our violet syrup so in it went.

Meet the Violet Bird of Paradise

The bird of paradise is already a riff on the more classic Jungle Bird cocktail and we put our own twist on the drink by using violet simple syrup rather than plain cocktail syrup. The results were spectacular. The violet flavor grounded this drink (as I mentioned before, violet has a surprising amount of depth of flavor for such a tiny flower) and the color-changing properties of the syrup were on full display when combined with the citrus elements of the drink. This is the perfect cool you down on a hot day kind of drink.

The Violet Bird of Paradise

1 oz. overproof rum (I used aged rum for this purpose 1 oz. Aperol 1 oz. Pineapple Juice 1/2 oz. Fresh Lime Juice 1/4 oz. Violet Simply Syrup

Mix in a Boston shaker and then serve over crushed ice.

This drink is sweet and needs to be served very cold – don’t skimp on the ice. Fill the entire glass. With rum, pineapple, the orange from Aperol, and sweet violet – this drink can be easily enchanted for good times and happiness. Please drink and enchant responsibly!

Minx

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Grimoire Tips

Just some things I've done that have helped me out tremendously with my own.

Cross-reference everything and anything before adding it in with pen. I usually aim for between four and six sources at least.

Table of contents! Number your pages and start a table of contents on the first one. Make sure you reserve the first few pages to continue it.

Print out charts to paste in. I have the wheel of the year in mine! It was so much easier than drawing it.

If you have trouble remembering what a specific plant looks like, and if it's available near you, press-dry a leaf or stem and paste it next to its information.

Sources! Write down where you found the information! If you have further questions that your book isn't answering yet, go to the source!

Cleanse your book when it feels heavy. Not physically heavy - you understand what I mean.

Keep crystals on top of it. Depending on what you keep on it, the qualities of the crystals will keep the book feeling fresh and light.

Don't just copy paragraphs and information straight from your sources. Paraphrase things in your own words so that it's easier for you to keep them in your head. Yes, having a book to reference is great, but it's also great to study it so you don't have to use it every time you have a question!

Share. Sharing grimoires with others can be massively beneficial to everyone involved, especially if you're swapping information. Seeing from other perspectives is always a good idea.

Just a few tricks and tips! As always, do your research, be safe, and blessed be.

Support your local witch on Ko-Fi or at my store, Hallow Grove!

forever my fave piece of cake ever. perfect carrot cake w the perfect amount of walnuts, heavenly spiced with cinnamon and cardomom & topped with the perfect cream cheese frosting, edible flowers and lime zest. i love her

I made a Winter Syrup to beat the January blahs

Every January, as we scurry off to the grocery store to buy pounds upon pounds of citrus fruit, we joke in my household that we must have scurvy.  I have multitudes citrus-forward cocktails that are designed to fight of the mid-winter ennui - lemon-drop martinis and whiskey sours - we’ve even experimented with putting clementine juice into drinks!

So when I found a recipe online for a Vitamin C heavy syrup that doesn’t HAVE to be served in alcohol form - I was pretty excited.   Better yet, it called for using evergreen needles which (if you’ve been following along) is completely in line with my study of Eastern White Pine that I have decided to undertake this month.

Serendipity is funny things: along with evergreen needles, the major vitamin C contributor in this recipe is rose-hips and I happen to have dried a bunch from Rosa Rugosa that I harvested at the beach in September that have been waiting for the perfect project.   Because I’m an overly ambitious kitchen witch (who also has a partner that loves food) - I had everything else needed for this recipe all set to go.

The crafting was surprisingly simple - its just a simple syrup - something that I’ve made dozens of times out of all sorts of ingredients.  You just want to leave the “tea” part of the mixture on the stove for a long time - we’re talking hours.

In the end I used Eastern White Pine and Rosa Rugosa rose hips for the vitamin C; cardamon, cinnamon and allspice for flavoring, a knob of ginger for its anti-inflammatory properties; lemon balm for its calming effect, and orange and calendula for sunshine energy.   For a sugar, I used raw local honey which is my go-to for most things.

So far, I’ve been loving having this in my life.  I’ve been adding some to my turmeric and ginger tea every day - it adds a nice earthy/herbal/woodsy taste but isn’t overpowering.   I will absolutely make this again and look forward to experimenting with different flavors/added intentions in my syrup.

Ko-Fi / Insta / Blog

A sacred space is so important in the home, I’m not just talking about an altar either, a sacred space can be anywhere where you feel most comfortable and at peace, the best thing is you can have as many as you want too!

This is only one of 3 of my sacred spaces at home, and it’s just been re-decorated with new flowers and new crystals ✨🤍 do you have a sacred space? 🕯

Insta: hexeandharmony 🖤🌙

offering ideas for local spirits:

-crushed eggshells

- water

- reflective things such as coins, metal objects, and beads in place of candles. 

-bread, crackers, matzo etc. 

- carved or painted stones. 

- woven grass or flowers 

- origami animals and houses

-milk (milk combined with water may kill fungi when sprayed on plants)

- avocado pits, cherry pits, apple seeds etc. 

- leftover tea/tea leaves

- hanging flags, wind-chimes, strips of cloth etc. 

So You've Got a Spirit Problem: An Adept's Guide to Taking Care of Business

Knowing how to do magic is not at all the same thing as knowing how to solve a problem.

Here is a map to one trail through this irritating, often murky, forest. The steps are generally presented in the order I'd recommend taking them, but naturally the details of execution are up to you.

This guide assumes that as someone who knows how to do magic, you may be called upon to assist others from time to time, so there is a distinction made between you as the practitioner, and the victim of a haunting.

Never rely on visualization-only techniques.

There is a difference between Energy Work and visualization. If someone has told you that all you need to do to protect yourself from spirits is to imagine that they cannot hurt you, they are wrong.

Yes, where your attention goes, energy flows - but as it turns out, real spirits are probably more powerful than the wispy energy patterns sprinkled about by you imagining stuff really hard.

I have met many a practitioner who was convinced they were up against an incredibly powerful spirit, because years of visualization did nothing. The first time they cast an actual spell with real power (that takes like 45 minutes of prep and 15 minutes of execution), the spirit was gone.

Fancy that.

Please place the mask over your own mouth and nose before assisting others.

Spirit hauntings often affect more than one person. Household members, social groups, entire Discord servers - it happens.

Attend to your own personal protections first. If this is your first rodeo, a few suggestions:

We may assume there is a timeline pressure; by the time you're called in to help, things may have become rough. There is no need to avoid taking care of the problem for months while you carefully craft a system of protections.

Obtain or recharge a single personal amulet of protection, especially one crafted against malefic spirits (as opposed to a general protection). Charge it and wear it for the duration of this process.

Obtain or recharge a single household ward for your own home, if you are not the one being haunted. If your home is already under spiritual attack, now may not be the right time to place wards. Read on for details.

Obtain or recharge a single ward for your sleeping space, a heavy-handed one that strongly protects your sleep, and strongly limits spirit movement into your room.

For the duration of solving this problem, engage in spiritual cleansing techniques more often. Also ensure you are getting enough calories and rest - depending on how resistant the problem is, your ongoing energy may be required for some time, and burnout helps no one.

Gather as many details as possible.

If you are assisting another person, get down (in writing) as many details as you can about when the haunting began, who it affects, the symptoms, any locations where the spirit is present, etc.

Consider that sometimes the spirit haunting is caused by a spirit which cannot be banished, like local nature spirits who are going to dwell there regardless of your actions. Whether you need to approach the situation as a warrior or a diplomat should be ideally figured out before you begin taking actions.

Make sure wards are not trapping the spirit inside.

If there is a potential that this is happening, open up or partially dismantle a ward (this can often done by opening a household door or window with Intent) so the spirit can leave.

Ask it to leave.

Not, "leave me/my friend alone." Not, "go away."

"Please leave this household permanently, and do not come back."

Combining this with a good-faith offering can help a lot. Place the offering outside, ideally beyond the property line, but we all do what we gotta do.

"Please leave this household permanently. I have placed an offering of [stuff] outside for you, because we are not enemies. This offering is yours if you accept these conditions: that you leave this property and do not come back. Please accept this offering, and leave."

Tell it to leave.

"You must leave this household, and all the people in it. This is not your home. Authority has been given to me to revoke any invitation which brought you here. Leave now of your own volition. If you do not leave, force and aggression will be used against you to force you to leave."

And if that doesn't solve it, time to get down and dirty.

Maybe you didn't even ask it to leave, because you arrived well after that was already attempted. If things have already escalated:

Prepare personal protections for everyone involved.

If you cannot reasonably do so, teach them how to shield through energy work. Remember that there are many inherently protective amulets found in nature which do not require much (or any) magic to be worked over them before they are effective; employ these to your advantage.

Optional: Figure out the spirit's weaknesses.

This step may be especially useful if banishments have already been attempted, and failed.

Gather a wide variety of magical symbols, amulets, talismans, and objects charged with various energies.

Find the spirit or connect to its energy (ideally behind a mirror, or through a protected scrying device, or using some other technique so it can't see you).

Hold up each symbol, object, etc., up to the spirit in turn. See how the spirit is affected. Take notes (ideally, have an assistant who can take notes as you describe what you're seeing).

Suppose the spirit seems totally unaffected by watery energies or solar symbols, but seems very affected by fiery energies and iron - now you have helpful answers.

Combine your discoveries with information about any previous banishments that may have been attempted to aid you in choosing your next course of action.

Less optional, but still optional: Perform divination

1. DO NOT CONVERSE WITH THE GODDAMN SPIRIT.

2. You do not need to know everything about the spirit before you get rid of it.

It drives me fucking CRAZY when people refuse to banish or get rid of obviously harmful spirits because they want to know its backstory, its personality traits, its gemsona, its full natal chart, and its favorite comfort foods first.

"We can't banish it until we know why it's doing this!"

The fuck you can't.

If your attitude is literally that it's okay for beings to hurt you as long as they have a good reason for it... Or you're not going to set boundaries unless you know why someone has crossed you...

I don't know what to tell you.

And hey, by the way, if it's an obviously bad spirit that you've already acknowledged is harming you, IT'S GOING TO LIE TO YOU AND MANIPULATE YOU.

There's a hell of a lot of people out there who have fully acknowledged the absolute hell a spirit has caused them, but they want to talk to it because idk, why wouldn't you want to talk to your own personal torturer, and thirty minutes later they're accepting the spirit as their new guardian and building it an altar.

So.

Divination is useful to help determine the outcome of your banishing actions and to give you insight into how to perform your operations effectively. This is a really good idea if you don't have a million years to randomly try stuff until something sticks.

It is not to become penpals with a harmful spirit who has already shown you its intent towards you.

Telling a spirit something, or sending messages, is extremely different from two-way communication. Don't open yourself up to a force that is causing active harm.

So now you've got to banish.

Your banishment will be greatly increased in efficacy if you surround it with supportive actions. The ability to employ any of these techniques of course varies depending on situation. Employ as many of them as possible.

Petition benevolent spirits, ancestors, and divinity to assist and support your workings.

Include as many people as affected by the haunting as you can.

Flood the house with supportive and helpful energies.

A floor wash or steam pot will be very helpful. Smoking out an entire house is difficult to get away with these days, but a fine option. If you can't get to the whole house, especially try to work on the areas where the spirit is known to be present.

Protective symbols hung about, including saint candles, also tends to assist in shaking the spirit "loose" from its moorings.

Loud and cheerful music, fresh air, and a generally upbeat mood helps the proceedings a great deal.

If it is determined that the spirit is attached to a single person, focus applying smoke, blessed waters, and talismans to their person.

Trap the spirit inside of something.

When you banish a spirit, where does it go? Just outside the property line? All the way across town? To the ends of the earth? How long until it finds its way back?

A cobalt-blue bottle filled with sand is a handy spirit trap. The spirit will eventually be freed again, before this world is over - and likely, quite a bit before that. Research why and how spirit traps work, and what techniques may be used to occupy the spirit for a great length of time before it can escape.

Perform your banishment.

As this post is for those who already know how to do magic, I leave the details up to you. Reflect on what you've learned about the spirit up until that time, and utilize powers which seem best suited to cross it.

Relying upon your personal power alone is not advised. Draw from sources greater than yourself. Asking divinity and benevolent spirits to arrive and support the working while you undertake it is a fine idea.

Once the spirit is gone, or trapped, dispose of various implements and clean up as you normally do.

Cleanse the home or person if you haven't.

Any technique will do.

Set up home wards if they did not already exist.

This includes helping others understand how to maintain protections in their own home.

Listen to yourself, or the person you are helping.

Mighty sorcerer though you are, it is possible that the spirit was not actually removed when you performed your banishment. Do not discard gut feelings or intuitions that the situation is not fully at rest.

You may need help, or new techniques, or simply ongoing effort applied to the situation before it is completely resolved. Every now and then, rare as it may be, the solution is really just to apply protection and go about your business.

Taper off healing, cleansing, and spiritual hygiene back to your normal levels.

Even if a spirit has been correctly removed, a person or place may have sustained actual spiritual damage. Instead of immediately dropping extra spiritual self-care when the spirit is gone, try maintaining it for a little while (especially if your normal level is zero). Staying clean and hygienic will help spiritual injuries heal on their own. Mundane actions, such as continuing to get enough food and rest (where possible), will also help.

If you are helping another, give them steps for things like cleansing baths how how to clean their own aura.

Elminx's Long-Form Lemonade for Sweet Cleansing

If you've been hanging out for more than a hot minute, you have probably caught on to a secret about my kitchen witching: it's not the NUMBER of ingredients you enchant; it's how you enchant them. For the purposes of witching, I prefer simple recipes (ingredient-wise) that have a bit of oomph to them. Do you need to stir a pot for 45 minutes straight? (see also my french onion soup recipe) What about starting a vinegar infusion that needs to be shaken every day?

This, as the saying goes, is where the magic is made. At least, for me.

So, imagine my surprise when my friends introduced me to a long-form way of making lemonade. Rather than simply juicing the lemons and adding some sugar and water - you combine the sugar and lemon peels and let them sit for some time to release the lemon's essential oils.

Not only does it make a superior lemonade (can confirm!), but it immediately had my magic wheels turning.

The goal is to make lemonade that will sweetly cleanse you of what ails you. This spell can easily be adapted to add specifiers—see the end of this post for more details.

As always, I will not tell you how to do YOUR magic. This is a technique, not a magic tutorial.

The Basics: When Life Gives You Lemons

Lemons have a long history of use as a cleansing agent. Cunningham's infamous green book lists them as a feminine plant, under the purview of water and the moon and used for the powers of "longevity, purification, love, friendship." (for what that's worth) From an herbal energetic perspective - lemons are considered to be cooling - they are used in the summer to cool hot termperatures and applied to the sick to help bring down fevers. Citric acid is also a bladder stimulant, which we will be making use of for the purposes of our potion-making.

What we associate with lemon as the "cleaning agent" is believed to come from limonene, a terpene found in the peels of most citrus fruits that is both antiviral and antibacterial. Lemonene is used in many cleaners that you can buy on the market but can also be extracted directly from the fruit, as we will do in this recipe.

The Technique

This standard high-end bartender technique makes wonderful, complex sour mixes that can absolutely make the perfect cocktail. Rather than extracting the limonene from the citrus using alcohol or vinegar, we use sugar.

This technique is called oleo-saccharum, which means "oil-sugar" - you are using sugar to draw the essential oils out of the lemon peels, making a natural (no heat) syrup. Note here: this syrup can be used on its own for all sorts of syrupy needs - you could stop the preparation here if you don't love lemonade.

This can be done on the fly (an hour or so), but I highly suggest letting this sit for 12-24 hours for the full effect.

The Recipe

You will need:

5-6 lemons, the best-looking ones you can find

1 1/4 cups sugar

Filter Water (to taste)

Peeler, citrus juicer, optional

Additional magical flavoring, optional

Become better acquainted with your lemons. For the purposes of this recipe, I do this by holding them, talking to them about what I want from them (general or specific cleansing), and rolling them across a hard surface. This last part helps to separate the peel from the pith, which will help you cut away the peel in the next step. Because we intentionally try to release the limonene compounds in this recipe, you may wish to begin by carving your lemon at this step (BEFORE you peel). You could carve your intentions, your name, the names of the people you are looking to cleanse, or any cleansing runes or sigils that you use in your craft.

Carefully peel your lemon. You want to get as little pith (white parts) as possible, as they don't taste good. Take your time here. Really breathe in the scents of the lemon during this. This is the first part of the cleansing process - you are incidentally cleaning yourself and your kitchen as you do this part of the spell. Lean into this. It smells amazing. Revel in it. Think about how it reminds you of everything being shiny and clean as a child. Lemons ARE cleansing - really feel into this here. We won't use the rest of the lemon until tomorrow; you can juice it here or store it overnight in an air-tight container)

Add your lemon peels and the sugar to a mixing bowl and thoroughly massage the sugar into the lemon peels. This should take some time - think fives of minutes at least. You want to do this until you can feel the change in consistency in the sugar - try to incorporate all of the sugar with all of the lemons. Remember, sugar is inherently sweetening, and lemons are inherently cleansing - you combine these two elements here to make a sweet, cleansing spell. Let the smell of it clean out your nose and your sinuses. This is the meat of your spellcasting - you are working your spell into your ingredients. Talk to it. Use your energy. Pray over it. You will know when this step is complete.

Cover your bowl and let it sit at room temperature overnight or for up to 24 hours. The longer this extracts, the more intense the flavor in the finished product. In a pinch, give it an hour, but I suggest waiting at least 8-10 for the best effect.

The next morning, add 2 cups boiling water to your lemon paste and stir until it has thoroughly combined - this is a great place to reinforce your magic from the day beforehand. (This version had the addition of some freshly picked sour cherries which gives its red color)

6. When this has cooled, add the lemon juice and additional water to taste. I personally put this in a half-gallon ball jar and filled it with water, and then my partner and I further diluted it from there.

7. Drink and enjoy. For an extra cleansing effect, consider that part of the act of citrus is that of a urinary stimulant - it will make you pee. Think about how peeing removes things from your life. Remove what needs cleansing. Your spell is complete.

This spell is as simple as that but it can be dressed up in some many different outfits with very little effort. Do you know a flavor (remember, all edibles here) with the right magic associations to add to this spell?

Add some blackberries at the infusion stage for good old-fashioned hedge witch protection. If you really need something out, you could experiment with infusing some jalapeno after you've made the lemonade (tread with a lot of care here...). I've worked with lavender and hibiscus here for calming, cool energies. I recently added a cup of sour cherries to Step 3 for a love-cleansing effect.

There are two ways you can add flavors to this spell: you can mix your flavor in during the sugaring phase, or you can do a secondary infusion after your lemonade has been made. Use your best judgment here - fruits can go in with the citrus peels for sure, but herbs and other more "tea like" ingredients might be better steeped afterward.

I haven't tried it yet, but I'm eager to use some of my savory kitchen herbs the next time I near to clear out my money flows.

Or alternatively, use it as the first step in a witchy cocktail (my go-to, as you know). This lemonade makes an exquisite base for a margarita—for a bougie twist, use white Patron and some Chambord; you will not be disappointed.

This is almost a blank slate - sweet cleansing could be used for anything you put your mind to.

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long time no see, Freyja 💐🍃