Herbs and Oils of the Winter Solstice

Hola and welcome back to the latest installment of my Sabbat Herbal series. This is part 7 of this series of Sabbat Herbs & Oils. You can check out part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, and part 6 at these links. Now we shall focus on the Winter Solstice, also called Yule or even Midwinter among many in the pagan community. The Winter Solstice marks the longest night of the year and therefore the shortest day. And similar to the Summer Solstice, which is its opposite on the wheel of the year, the celebrations around this time of year are centered around the sun and light. However its from a different perspective. From here on out the days will start to get longer and the nights shorter. There are many ways you can use these herbs and oils for warmth, earth, cleansing, love, physical and mental health.

D for Dandelions

Dandelions have many uses both therapeutically and spiritually. To keep a quick reference of its uses I made a journal page for myself.  You can see that process and what's on the page here in this video.

After some requests and a little trial and error I have made a digital journal page for you all as well. This page includes therapeutic, culinary, medical, ritual and magical uses or attributes. The page is available in both Letter and A5 sizes. 

If you'd like this free download, click the preview image below for access to the free SMC Resource Library, which has other free downloads. You'll also get exclusive updates for when new journal pages are ready for downloading. Plus so much more.

I hope you enjoy it all,

~Lashette
  Scarlet Moon Creations

Herbs and Oils for Samhain

Hola and welcome back to the latest installment of my Sabbat herbal series. This is part 6 of this series of Sabbat Herbs & Oils. You can check out part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5 at these links. Samhain, marks the last harvest and the end of the year for me. Because my birthday is on November 1st. It has many names such as Halloween, Calan Gaev, All Hallows Eve, Day of the Dead, etc. Its a time of reflection, preparation, divination, protection and spirit work. The veil between worlds is thin again. The last time was during Beltane. During the darker half of the year you can get more easily in touch with the Fae again. But also with the spirits of the dead. Divination is more powerful during this time of year as is journeying. Many do rituals out of respect for their ancestors who have passed. Others take stock of the past year and begin to plan for the winter and the rest of the new year beyond.

Herbs and Oils of Autumn Equinox

Hail and welcome back to the latest installment of my Sabbat herbal series. This is part 5 of this series of Sabbat Herbs & Oils. You can check out part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4 at these links. Now it is the Autumn Equinox, so we are smack dab in the middle of the harvest season. Various holidays have been celebrated for centuries during this time of year when the days and nights are equal. Mabon, Alban Elfed, and more. From hear on out the nights will be longer than the days and the cold more than the warmth. Plant life slowly begins to die or go into hibernation while the mammal wildlife also harvests. We harvest in preparation of winter. So that we can get those things that would not be available otherwise. In this first world country survival during winter is not as much of a worry so the focus is more on harvesting things other than food. We are looking fr balance, prosperity, joy and protection in the coming fall and winter.

Herbs and Oils for Lughnasadh

Hail and welcome back to the latest installment of my Sabbat herbal series. This is part 4 of this series of Sabbat Herbs & Oils. You can check out part 1, part 2 and part 3 at those links. It is now the beginning of the harvest season. The traditional first harvest happens during the time of year in the northern hemisphere. Lughnasadh, as I call it, is one of the four Celtic Fire festivals. It corresponds with Lammas, Calan Awst and many other holidays or festivals celebrated during this time of year. This time of year, this season is all about love, abundance, luck, strength, protection and kitchen magic.

Herbs and Oils for the Summer Solstice

Welcome back to the latest installment of my Sabbat herbal series. This is part 3 of this series of Sabbat Herbs & Oils. You can check out part 1 and part 2 at these links. This time we are focusing on the Summer Solstice. Also called Litha, or even Midsummer by some, this time of year is all about celebrating the Sun, empowerment, healing and revitalizing, growing, sweetness, marriage, and faeires.

Herbs and Oils for Beltane

Beltane is all about life. Creating life; fertility among plants, animals and people; preserving life with fire that purifies, and prosperity; attraction from flowers attracting bees to women washing their faces with the morning dew to attract a mate; connection with the handfastings and weddings that resemble the greenwood marriage; and the veil between worlds being thin so you can connect with spirits such as fairies.

Herbs and Oils for the Spring Equinox

Spring has sprung. It is now a time of new beginnings, of finding your balance, planting seeds, youthful energy, rebirth and the fertility of nature. With that all in mind I thought I'd share some of the many plants and oils associated with this season.

How I Got Started: Paganism and Witchcraft

This is part IV, the last of the How I Got Started series. Each part can be read on their own but if you want to read part I, part II, or part III click the links.

An old altar set up of mine.

That Paganism would draw me into a field of work I never even thought of is kind of an amazing thing to look back on. And it hasn't even been that long.When I graduated from undergrad I had a stable job and decided that my next step would be to start exploring various Pagan religions to see if that way lay a place where my spirituality was comfortable. It was. In the process of learning I was drawn to nature-based religions. They teach that all around us in energy is various forms and that we can connect with those energies to enhance our own. Those that follow nature-based religions often venerate or worship nature in its various forms; the how and why differing from religion to religion. Because of that I some of the classes or lessons I took were about topics like herbalism and natural healing. I learned about common herbs, spices, oils, roots and resins and the various ways to use them.

I was taught that these and other elements of the earth each have their own natural energies as well as a history of associations that humans have created over the years. These things could be used individually, like essential oils in a diffuser, or combined, in an oil blend, to enhance my own or others personal energies and workings so that we can affect change. I also learned how lots of plants are the basis for our modern medicine and have healing and therapeutic properties. I became particularly interested in those that helped with allergies and those that could be used topically, or on the skin, our body's biggest organ. I will add this, as much as I learned then, I am still learning now and as a friend likes to say, I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV.

Not too long after these lessons started the natural hair movement for black women in the United States started gaining traction. I was interested in this and had been considering going natural for awhile since I didn't like the process of straightening my hair at all (in fact I hate having to go to a hair salon at all). After doing a bit of research I realized that I can use many of the natural ingredients that I had been learning about in my pagan lessons and using in my personal practice and take it one step further by using them to improve my health. Keeping my hair and skin healthy by no longer using products that had chemicals I was allergic too and starting to make my own hair and body care mixtures was so freeing. As I mentioned in my Allergies post, I am allergic to a lot of things and while this is more annoying than hazardous, it can be distracting and stressful after awhile. These natural ingredients helped take some of the load off. I wound up learning more about myself and my spiritual path.

As I mentioned previously, a friend (a witchy friend to be more specific) told me about Etsy where people can sell their handmade items. After I decided that this was a path I wanted to take another witchy friend agreed to be my business consultant. I talked in a previous post about the 'homework' she would give me. One such assignment was to think about myself and all the different facets and how I can use some or all of them to personalize my products. How can I make them stick out. She suggested I try to include my spirituality in some way. After looking around Etsy, I decided not to do that. There were tons of witches and other pagans selling their wares, spells, potions, etc. They all seemed more experienced and knowledgeable than me at the time. Nowadays things are different on Etsy due to some of their policy changes.

However, now after being a part of the Etsy and pagan communities online and in the real world I better understand finding your niche and selling something you love. As I continue to learn about herbs, skin care, aromatherapy and expanding my knowledge into related areas such as body care, self care, Reiki, chemistry, perfumery, aromachology and more, I see more connections with my spirituality. And vise-versa. I am inspired by my own spiritual journey as well as that of those around me. Right now as I am on the cusp of revealing two new product lines that have been years in the making, I keep jotting down new product ideas I want to explore. 

I had my first ever tarot card business reading recently and everything pointed to my including my spirituality in my business and using my business to clarify and expand my personal practice as nothing but a good thing. Now, I'm not one to believe in fate and having your whole life being predestined to the point where there is no choice. But I do believe in reading the signs, of weighing your options and choosing from the many possibilities. I feel we are both independent beings and connected to those around us. That every choice we make can lead us somewhere different. At this time I've made the choice to longer make such an effort to keep my businesses and my spirituality apart. I think they can only enhance each other as they have already. 

So that's how I got started. And its also how I plan to go on. 
~Lashette
Scarlet Moon Creations

How I Got Started: Allergies

Today we start a new series. This one is all about what led me to starting Scarlet Moon Creations. It will be 4 parts so look out for the other posts in the upcoming weeks. Today we'll talk about my allergies.

Image By Evan-Amos via Wikipedia Facial Tissue

 I am a walking allergic reaction waiting to happen, or at least I feel that way. I grew up always having allergies to what seems like everything. Luckily, I've only found one thing to be deadly and its been easily avoidable since that very close call. However, if you watch allergy medication commercials they'll have you thinking that people only get allergies during certain seasons or that you can only have one category of allergies. For me that has never been the case. I have indoor allergies, outdoor allergies, allergies during pollen season, allergies during weed season, even allergies during the summer and winter. I have a couple of food allergies and I'm allergic to dogs, cats, dust, mold, some insects, many cleaning supplies, and synthetic fragrances which are in our soaps, shampoos, lotions, deodorants and cosmetics. Add to that my nose is very sensitive so things like cigarette smoke and too much perfume in an enclosed space set me off as well. Even just walking past Sephora is overwhelming.

The outcomes of all this is usually sneezing, running eyes and nose but can lead to a sore throat, headache, dizziness and the absolute worst is a sinus infection which has flue-like symptoms. I get allergies 10 times more often than I've ever gotten a cold. The trade off for these mostly mild, yet annoying (and often gross), symptoms is I hardly ever get really sick. I think I get the flu once every couple of years or so and that's about it.

Which is good, but try heading to a job interview sniffling and dripping all over the place because you stood upwind from someone too liberal with their cologne on the way there? Or failing a finals test because everyone wanted the windows open to let in some "fresh air"? Or having people wonder why you have a bag full of restaurant napkins and tissues because YOU NEVER KNOW? Or being unable to breathe because you tried that glass of wine? Or taking a shower to clean up and coming out covered in hives (sneezing in the shower is not fun by the way)? Or almost dying because your event host forgot to tell you that "oops, we put walnuts in the brownies"? Or questions people's food before you eat it because you don't want to die? Or how about not remember a good time with family and friends because you were too busy blowing your brains out? Yeah, its not fun. 

A couple of years ago I had an opportunity to learn about herbs and oils (I'll go into more details about that in another post). I had up until this point just tried my best to avoid the things I could and just carried allergy medication and a ton of tissues for those I couldn't (hard to avoid the air outside when you still need to breathe). But after this one class on herbalism I talked to a few people and started doing some research on certain herbs online and that led me to finding out about all natural movement online and the fact that I can make a lot of the stuff I use at home with natural products myself. 

The internet is a rabbit hole but in this instance it was very beneficial. I had up to this point never gone to a spa for fear of having a reaction that would embarrass me and them. I had only bought one set of skin care products for my face which I only used twice, shame on me since I broke out both times using it. But now I could try making a "fancy" bath soak or a moisturizing body scrub using decadent scents that might not annoy me. I did tons of research down in that rabbit hole. I bought a few basic ingredients that I could use for other things as well if they didn't get along with my skin or nose. 

Image By NIAID via Flickr

Essential oils turned out to be a godsend. I love scent and this is something that my allergies have taken from me up until this point. But now I can use them to clean and/or scent a room as well as care for my skin and even help relieve my allergic reactions. I cannot tell you how many times I have run home to sniff some tea tree oil since I discovered its existence.

And herbs, spices, roots and resins; these items that come from trees and other plants, I have in my kitchen as well as my work room. They add great color, scent and flavor to my meals as well as my homemade bath and body products. They help heal as well as reduce inflammation. A good chamomile compress relaxes my sinus headaches while other herbs reduce the look of the dark circles I get from rubbing my eyes. What I also love is that the scents never get overwhelming like a lot of chemical fragrances. No headaches or dizziness. 

How could I not share this with others? I couldn't, so I didn't. Read more about this in next weeks post; How I Got Started: Gifts.