Apothecary Lesson #1: Herbal Salve

Apothecary Lesson #1: Herbal Salve

     Well, it was bound to happen at some point. Hello everybody, my name is Davide, and today, I’m going to teach you guys how to make a salve. Basically, a salve is an oil and wax mixture that people can use for a bunch of different reasons, ranging from dry skin to muscle rubs. They’re easy to make, if you’re patient, and their variability makes for endless possibilities. Just as a warning though, this will take a goddamn long time to make, and for you to read, so I suggest getting some tea and snackilackage before starting to read. Got it? Good, ¡vamos!

Part One: The Oil

     A key component of your salve is the oil, or more specifically, the herbs in said oil. There’s a plethora of different oils you could in your salve, but for this recipe, we’re using olive oil because it’s fairly hardy and difficult to burn. When it comes to what you should or could put in your oil, there’s waaaaaay too many things for me to mention, so I’ll give a basic rundown: 

Mint, Anise, Cinnamon, and Comfrey are good for muscle rubs

Calendula, Chamomile, Aloe, and Tea Tree Oil are good for skin

Ginger and Turmeric are good as arthritis pain relievers

Echinacea, Eucalyptus, and Hibiscus are antibacterial and are good for minor scrapes, cuts and bruises

Now that you’ve got an idea of some herbs to use, let’s get to how to make your oil 

Ingredients:

12 oz. Olive oil

3-4 oz. dried and/or ground herbs

Utensils:

Double-boiler set up (can be a double-boiler, or a glass container in a saucepan filled with about 1″ of water) 

dark-tinted jar w/ label for holding your finished oil

Instructions:

Into your double-boiler (the part without the water…duh), pour in your olive oil and herbs. 

Set your stove/heating receptacle to low heat, placing double-boiler on heat. 

Infuse oils for 1-2 hours (one hour for minimum infusion amount, two hours for maximum infusion amount before oil goes rancid) 

Once oil is done, pour into your dark-tinted jar, and label accordingly

Voila! You have yourself some bonafide herbal oil for the next part of your salve!

Part Two: The Salve

     Alright, now we’re getting to the good stuff–the salve. For this, you’re going to need 2 ingredients (three ingredients is optional, four is overkill): beeswax and your herbal oil. Without further ado, let’s get this over with! :D 

Ingredients:

1 oz. Beeswax

8 oz. Herbal Oil 

*Optional*: ¼ tsp. essential oil

*Optional*: the tears and/or blood of your enemies

Utensils:

Double-boiler system

Containers to hold your salve (the total amount of salve being made is approximately 9 oz., so for the containers, try to prioritize. Like, if you want three different jars of salves, use three 3 oz. jars. Math n’ shit)

Instructions:

Set your stove to medium-low heat

Into your double-boiler, melt your wax

Once the wax has melted–it’s imperative that your wax has to be completely melted before adding the oil–add your herbal oil. 

Stir fully (it’s not weird to see the wax immediately harden once you add the herbal oil, so wait until it fully re-melts). 

Once salve is all liquid, pour into your container(s). Do not cover your containers before they harden.

Once salve has cooled at room temperature, it’s ready to use! Store in a cool, dry place. Apply to problem areas, or just lather it all over your body and have really weird sex (You do you boo boo). 

Thanks for reading you guys! I’d enjoy a reblog, a reshare, or if you hated it, a strongly worded message to me and probably a few images of you flipping the bird. Have an amazing day/afternoon/night/time-between-night-and-morning

“You Cannot Touch Her” Curse/Binding

This curse is particularly for people who have done harm in the past, and as such already known to be a potential threat. The idea is to keep the person from speaking to or approaching the one you’re trying to protect, and to make them feel watched and judged for their past actions.

You will need the following:

A jar big enough to hold a poppet

Some kind of poppet - I used a wooden one with the offender’s name written on the bottom. A photo could also be used

White out

A black candle

A mixture of black salt & cayenne pepper

A sigil of your own design meaning “You cannot touch [name or pronoun]”

A permanent marker

Light the candle and white out the mouth of your poppet. Roll the poppet in the mixture of black salt and cayenne pepper (black salt tends to stain so keep this in mind). Place it in the jar and seal the lid, leaving the poppet inside under the gaze of dozens of eyes. Write your sigil on the lid. During or after all of this, say the following aloud or think it to yourself (change pronouns accordingly):

You cannot touch her. You cannot speak to her. Think of her and bring this curse upon you. May your tongue catch in your throat if you dare to reach her. May you burn and ache if you come near. May you feel eyes upon your back each time you think her name. They’re watching. I’m watching. May you forever question the gaze of others - Do they know the things you’ve done? I do. I curse you. I bind you. You cannot touch her.

Stash the jar in a dark place, like a closet or a cabinet (I don’t recommend burying jars). Let the candle burn until it extinguishes itself.

Perfect for your grimoire or BOS :)

Wow.

tfw you have to unfollow a MAJOR source of witchcraft resources on tumblr because they have bigoted as fuck opinions about nonbinary people.

Yeah, fuck that. Bye.

PSA - A Safety in Magic Warning for the New Spellcaster

This is stemming from a conversation I’ve just had with someone who was experiencing heart palpitations, dizziness and weakness from rapidly going onto a 7day fast for a bit of magic as advised by a more experienced spellcaster, who I’m sure meant no harm (but needs to be hung drawn and quartered anyway), and it is VERY important for all beginners to understand.

If something you are doing involves anything that makes you physically ill, dizzy, feint, puts you in pain, or makes your heart feel funny… Anything like that STOP! If it is not an expected, known, and reasonable response* to what you are doing STOP STOP STOP! This includes burning incense, rubbing salve on yourself, some meditation breathing techniques, fasting…

You could be having an allergic reaction, something may be mixing with medications, you may be putting yourself at serious risk.

STOP. Eat something, have some water. If your symptoms are serious - vomiting, diarrhoea, heart palpitations ect contact a medical professional. Your Gods and spirits will wait. They want you alive and well so you can do the work.

Once you’re feeling ok you can contact someone else who is more experienced than yourself and talk to them (not the initial person unless you know them well and trust them to be honest rather than bullshit and gaslight you), they may be able to offer advice on how to proceed. You may need to adjust your spell work, change the type of fast you’re on, work with a different breathing technique or herb/scent etc. Work around the problem, do not force your way through it, you could seriously harm yourself.

Your health and safety must be put first at all times. Killing yourself does not support your witchcraft. Trust me.

This is also a good reason why you should try to keep your posts for spell help public while you’re learning and relying on forums, it stops people giving you potentially bad advice going unchecked. I know that if I had seen the advice this person was given I would have said ‘Hey, that could be dangerous, here’s some ways to make it less dangerous’ or offered a different way of approaching the working. 

And the person who gave the advice probably didn’t think that it was dangerous, it’s probably something that person has done many times before, but what is good and safe for me isn’t necessarily what is good and safe for you. The person who was experiencing the palpitations probably didn’t tell the person advising them that they were on a specific medication that I just happened to know doesn’t mix with sudden fasting, and I wouldn’t have thought to ask (most likely) if I haven’t had medication-magic mishaps before. *normal or expected side effects are shit like feeling dizzy because you’ve spun around in circles, or light headed because you’re utilising a mind-altering substance for example. 

orriculum’s witchcraft 101 masterpost ✨

✨ basics:

unpacking witchcraft - spell types ✧ some basic terms to know ✧ methods for spells ✧ grounding, a quick how-to ✧ how to write your own spells - resources ✧ when to cast a spell - by weekdays ✧ when to cast a spell - by time of day ✧  low effort witchcraft

✨ tools:

tools of witchcraft overview ✧ a witch’s wand ✧ building a broom/besom ✧correspondence resource

✨ you should know:

“to be a witch” falsehoods ✧ other witches and you ✧ witchcraft and the law ✧ difference between a witch and a herbalist ✧ self care for the witch ✧ when your spell fails ✧ tarot and pendulums can get it wrong