added to by Me :)
* Make grapevine wreaths using dried bitter-sweet herb for protection. Use ribbons of gold and yellow to bring in the energy of the Sun, and decorate with sprigs of dried yarrow or cinnamon sticks.
- * Making a Harvest Wreath * from the Wild Violets Newsletter, which I cannot locate online :( Here's an easy fun craft that will use up the last of your garden and one that you can share with a friend. Materials that you will need:
- 12" straw or grapevine wreath
- paper ribbon to cover straw (optional)
- small pins or tape
- 20-30 gauge wire on a paddle (floral supply)
- plenty of herbs and flowers material (see below)
- Wrap the paper ribbon in the color of your choice around the straw base to cover it and secure with pins or tape. I like to use a dark green because is blends well with the plant material. If you're using grapevine then skip this step. Gather many, many bunches of herbs and other plant material (about 4-5 in. in length) that you want to be in the wreath. Choose herbs and flowers that dry well (see below). Maybe as many as 30 bunches. Remember they will shrink considerably as they dry. Think of the base as a clock. Start at 2 o'clock. Begin placing bunches on the wreath starting on the outer part and working towards the middle. Secure them in place by wrapping the wire around the wreath enclosing the bundles as you go. Continue with another layer of bunches below the first layer with the second one slightly overlapping. Continue overlapping layers until the wreath is complete.
- **In about a week if you have noticeable bare spots consider hot gluing accent pieces like nuts, cinnamon sticks, chili peppers or garlic to fill in the wreath.
Plant Suggestions:
* Make a Magical Horn of Plenty from Earth Witchery
- While the traditional Horn of Plenty, or cornucopia, is a symbol of bounty and a good harvest, it also has definite magical overtones. The horn itself is a phallic symbol, representative of the God. The inside of the horn is womb-like, especially when it is full of bounty from the fertile earth. This represents the Goddess. And since Mabon is the Witches Thanksgiving, it is very appropriate to utilize this symbol for our altars or table tops.
- Make or buy a cornucopia. I bought a wicker one in the basket section of a local craft store. Some of the more crafty among us may opt to make one out of grapevine or other material.
- fruit
- veggies
- flowers.
- glitter
- oak leaves
- acorns
- hazel nuts
- tarot cards. The Justice card is a card of balance, and Mabon is a day of balance. Justice also corresponds to Libra, the astrological sign of Mabon. Look through your deck, you may find other cards that suit the season.
- sandalwood or cinnamon incense
- a box
- green wrapping paper
- a quarter and a dime
- 9 kernels of dried corn
- 9 oats
- a malachite bead
- a peridot bead
- Scotch tape
- a pen with green ink
- heather, sage, pine or cedar incense
- a box
- white wrapping paper
- a sprig of rue
- a holly leaf
- a tiger's eye bead
- a piece of dragon's blood resin
- Scotch tape
- a pen with red ink
Light a stick of sandalwood or cinnamon incense. Hold the box over the smoking incense to thoroughly saturate it with the scent. Hold the money, the corn, oats, and beads in your hands. Charge them with energy, focusing on an increase in wealth and prosperity. Visualize yourself harvesting the rewards toward which you have been working. Put the ingredients in the box and close the lid. With the pen, draw prosperity runes on the box and then wrap them in green wrapping paper. Hold over the smoking incense again and say:
Summer's sun is Autumn's gold
In my life, wealth be foretold
Fortune increase, luck be mine
By harvest dreams and barley wine.
Lady, see my need for more
Send abundance to my door.
Protection Boxes You will need:
Light a stick of heather, sage, pine or cedar incense. Hold the box over the smoking incense to thoroughly saturate it with the scent. Hold the herbs, bead, and resin in your hands. Charge them with energy, focusing on protection and safety for all who dwell within your household. Visualize a web of protective light encasing your home. Then put the ingredients into the box and close the lid. With the pen, draw protection runes on the box, and wrap it in the white wrapping paper. Hold over the smoking incense again and say:
Amidst the Autumn's darkest nights
Our home be bound by brilliant light
A web of hope and joy and peace
Be woven now, all danger cease
By watchful eye, by lock and key,
Protect our home, so mote it be.
* Make Magical Scented Pinecones.
Make a Protection Charm of Hazelnuts (filberts) strung on red thread.
Adapted from Asiya's Shadows
Needed:
9 hazelnuts
Red colored twine
Nut pick
Using the nut pick, bore holes in the nuts. Don't shell them; use whole nuts. String them on the twine, making it just long enough to hold the nine nuts with a little bit of space, then tie off in a circle. On Samhain night, consecrate it in the fire, passing it back and forth 3 times, and chant:
"Hazelnuts nine in a ringHang it up in your home somewhere as an amulet of protection for the coming year. Nine is the sacred number of the hazelnut in the Celtic Tree Calendar. Save some of the nuts to bury during the Spring Equinox, to attune yourself with the cycle of birth and death.
By the smoke of the Mabon Fire bring
To those within our humble home
Form over this a protective cone
Guard for a year, I charge thee
And as I will it, so mote it be!"
* Collect milkweed pods to decorate at Yuletide and attract the faeries.
* Call upon the elementals and honor them for their help with (my personal associations for elements differ from those listed here...)
- (N-earth) the home and finances
- (E-air) school and knowledge
- (S-fire) careers and accomplishments
- (W-water) emotional balance and fruitful relationships
* Make a Witch's Broom.
- dried corn husks
- broom
- cedar
- fennel
- lavender
- peppermint
- rosemary
Tie around a relatively straight branch of your choice
* Make Magic Apple Dolls
- Apples are sacred symbols of the witch. Our holy land, Avalon, means Apple-land or Island of Apples.
Sources:
Celebrate the Earth by Laurie Cabot
Green Witchcraft by Ann Moura
Llewellyn's Witches' Calendar 1998 (The link is to the 2009 version)
The Witches' God by Janet and Stewart Farrar
Disclaimer: No one involved in this blog or its contents may be held responsible for any adverse reactions arising from following any of the instructions/recipes on this list. It is the reader's personal responsibility to exercise all precautions and use his or her own discretion if following any instructions or advice from this blog.
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