Sometimes the tiniest plants and flowers hold the greatest secrets. Bealtaine Blessings from my yard to yours.

#Beltane #witchcrafting #witchthings

Ethical Wildcrafting

Wildcrafting, another name for foraging, is gathering materials usually herbs, plants or fungi that are grown naturally instead of cultivated to use for food, medicine or arts and crafts. Wildcrafting goes back to the beginning of time and it is only recently in the human time span that agriculture and cultivation are used over wildcrafting to produce food and medicine. Many of us are returning to the old practices of hunting/gathering to either supplement our lives or in some cases, as a total lifestyle. However, when wildcrafting is done without care or knowledge, it can cause harm to our environment as well as ourselves. Here are a few tips and ideas to make your wildcrafting experience safer and more enjoyable for you and the nature you inhabit.

Where
If you can’t forage on your own property, either you don’t own any or it’s too small, then you will have to head out into the wilderness. I live in an area surrounded by mostly empty mountainsides, meadows, and riparian areas but many people do not have access to areas that are this untouched by humans. So, it is important to know about a few safety issues to make your experience one that you will want to repeat as well as keeping the areas you frequent healthy and abundant for future years.
Stay in common land areas away from polluted water, polluted ground or heavy air pollution. Ditches by roadside can have spilled oil, asphalt runoff, litter and garbage, herbicides and also bio-hazards like used toilet paper, etc. Also watch for agricultural runoff, both animal and plant agriculture usually use high levels of synthetic fertilizer and other contaminants that you don’t want in your foraging.
Do not wildcraft on private land without owner's permission… you don’t want to be chased away at gunpoint. Stay away from railroad tracks which are regularly sprayed with herbicide and are also private property and dangerous to be close to.
When far out in the wild, away from human settlements, watch for wild animals that might be protecting their territory, their dens, young or recent kills. All of these situations are very dangerous to be nearby. Always carry bells, talk or sing loudly and consider carrying bear spray if you live in bear territory.

Know Your Plants
I can’t stress enough how important it is to learn the plants in your area. Get a good book and make sure it is an academic publication on plant identification that includes safety information regarding each plant. It is best to have more than one publication and cross reference them so that if you discover contradictory information, you know that you will have to do more research to be truly safe. Many plants used for medicine have different parts that are used, where some parts may be toxic, and certain ways of preparing them safely. Find out what the poisonous plants are in your area and STAY AWAY from them. Be especially aware of look-alike plants that can be easily mistaken. There are quite a few plants and fungi that are very dangerous to ingest, ranging from immediate poisoning to slow long term organ damage. You want to know what these plants are and how to definitively identify them. There are many look-alike plants that can be deadly while others are non-toxic or edible, and others that are not necessarily toxic but are still unusable. After you have done extensive research at home, and know what you are looking for, get a good field guide with colour photos to take along with you and always keep with your wildcrafting gear.
Choose a few well known and easy to identify plants to get started and create a relationship with these plants. Learn what they look like in each season, when they are healthy or struggling, and where they are abundant enough to harvest. Learn as much as you can about them, how to pick, preserve, and create with them. Establish a small base of a few plants and as your experience grows, add one or two new ones at a time to widen the scope of your preferred wild craft plants. Go slow and don’t try to cram too much information into your brain at one time. Learning plants can take a lifetime so go slow and enjoy the journey.

How Much and How
Never take more than 1/3 of any given plant but usually much less than that. A few sprigs, leaves or branches from each plant will not harm the plant and leave plenty behind for other foragers both animal and human.
Never cause permanent damage to plants or trees such as carelessly ripping out roots or pulling resin off bark, ripping some of the bark off in the process. The bark protects the tree from insects and disease. Never EVER rake the forest floor to gather mushrooms. This is a terrible practice that damages the delicate ecosystems of the fungus and the surrounding area. Plus it is just downright disrespectful.

Give Thanks
Remember to carefully intuit the area you are crafting in. Is it a healthy environment or is it struggling? Ask the plants if it is okay to harvest in an area and be still so that you can truly hear the answer. Leave an offering of something like a splash of clean water by the bottom of the plants, and a few words of thanks. Never leave anything that is not organic or biodegradable. Never leave candle stubs, out of area plant matter, plastic or any substance that would not naturally be found in the area.

Learn
You can learn how to dry, distill, tincture, infuse, make salve, teas, and use in food for both medicine and culinary use. Be careful of allergies- I learned this the hard way. I put a little cottonwood resin on my skin because I love the scent and that resulted in an allergy reaction that lasted more than a year and left me highly sensitive to other substances. After you have gone to all the hard work of gathering and harvesting, you don’t want anything to spoil or go to waste. Learn about the different oils for infusing, alcohols for tincturing, drying methods, and storage. Always use fresh or fully dried plant material for tinctures, tea or infusing. Some plants give off a toxin when they wilt, as a defence mechanism, but that disappears when fully dry in most cases. Livestock have been poisoned by eating wilted leaves of pin cherries, etc. It is best to assume this might happen and to only use fresh or fully dried. Again, know your plants really well before gathering or using anything.

#wildcrafting #witchcrafting #foraging

May I present you my first Witchcraft website! It is simple, it is rudimentary, it is unperfect, but I LOVE it! Please let me know what you guys think about it. 💜🖤 I'm proud of it.

¡Permítanme presentarles mi primer sitio web de brujería! Es simple, es rudimentario, no es perfecto, ¡pero me ENCANTA! Por favor, díganme qué piensan al respecto. 💜🖤 Estoy orgulloso de ello.

#Pagan #Witch #PaganWitch #PagansAndWitches #Witchcrafting #SLCWitches #UtahWitch #WitchesCommunity

https://alanuddalul.my.canva.site/candle-of-the-ancestors

New batch of incense finally finished that I started last summer.
I make my own incense to use and sell in my shop. While I usually gather plants, berries and resins for this specific purpose, it is also a good use for the bits of plant material left over from other uses. It is respectful of the plant to use all the parts you have gathered and not waste anything. I use both wild and garden herbs, flowers, bark, resin, leaves and stalks. I use pine, fir, spruce, cedar, bark, cones, leaves and resin. I use flowers such as yarrow, lavender, rose and clover. I add crushed berries such as saskatoons, mahonia, juniper or elderberry as well as honey and mead for binding.

Making my own incense 2 or 3 times per year is intensely satisfying and a spiritual way to honour the land. It is also a great alternative to buying incense and resins from countries on the other side of the world that are often from endangered species or exploited sources. While I do have a few from other places I have visited, namely Glastonbury, I use them only for very special occasions. I was inspired by the Glastonbury incenses from Star Child (they use local ingredients) and the scent takes me right back to the Red Spring. I've now created new scent memories with my own blends used for special ceremonies and rituals right here.

#witchstuff #witchcrafting #incense #handmade #esoterica

Since this is often a component of "new year" activities, here is a little talk about "manifesting".

A lot of people weigh in on the subject of manifesting without actually knowing what it is or how to do it. (thanks to *that book which, no, I have not read and don't intend to)

People have accused those that practice this with success or encourage the concept of doing it with ableism, classism, etc. Those that say that could not be more wrong. People that have not either attempted or been successful at a manifestation do not understand it. They have not learned nor been taught how to do it.

Manifesting is not hoping, wishing, thinking or even believing for or of a desire. It is the manipulation of resources including energy, people, places, locations, timing, and opportunity to align the processes that create the desired outcome.

The most important thing to understand when manifesting anything is that you are not creating a new thing, only moving things around in the universe. If you desire money, then someone has to give up that same money. Trying to manifest "riches" could result in someone you love dying and leaving you an inheritance. The unintended consequences of reckless manifestation is your peril. You must think through each detail and be very specific how, when, who, what is changed to enact your desire. When you learn to see the world around you, detect every resource and opportunity, use every option, and be able to start a long string of consequences, then you have started down the path of manifesting.

People all over the world use this type of energy manipulation but not everyone wants or desires the same things. A person in one country might want to manifest a house for themselves and their family or maybe a fancy vacation. A person in a different country might want to manifest a large enough meal to feed not only themselves but their neighbours for one night. To say that manifesting cannot work because there are poor people or sick people everywhere in the world is to completely miss the point. You can never know other's deepest desires or needs by looking at the world through the lens of your own life.

To be truly successful at this kind of magical practice you have to know how to do energy work. Using the energies of the Earth to effect change in your immediate environment is the first step. This practice takes months or years to learn to use effectively. Correctly using meditation and stillness, learning to hear the sounds within silence, to feel the vibrations of every object are necessary parts of this kind of magic. Next you have to develop a keen sense of situational awareness, be able to sense the logical path of a motion, detect the probably outcome of an action. You have to be able to read signs, see the value in a resource, be able to put random events into motion. You have to be able to know when to say yes and when to say no. You have to be able to detect danger in one path and success in another.

This kind of intense awareness does not work if drugs or alcohol or present. (you can't meditate after 3 glasses of wine- you'll just fall asleep) Every country, every culture has magic workers. It takes a lot of practice and that comes easier to some than others. But if you want to change your life or have needs that are not being met, you do have the power. You can learn the craft of manifestation. It takes work, dedication and deep self-awareness. What you end up getting might not be exactly what you started out desiring but it might be the best thing for you in the end.

#Witchcraft #Manifesting #TheCraft #Meditation #EarthEnergies #WitchCrafting #Magic

Spring equinox traditions with a touch of modern. I am inspired, as always by Gather Victoria.

#SpringEquinox #Ostara #TheWheelTurns #Witchcrafting

https://gathervictoria.com/2023/03/21/the-magical-deviled-eggs-of-spring/

New YouTube video: Creating a devotional painting for Hecate - Witch Crafting [CC] Hope you enjoy this don't forget to share & subscribe xx https://youtu.be/_6Yqzc7XEDo 

#artmagick #devotionalart #crafts #crafting #hecate #witchcrafting #witchcraftpractice #witchesofinstagram #witchtuber #youtube #youtubecommunity #YouTubechannel #youtubevideo