Monday, December 21, 2020

Yule


Yule celebrates rebirth as well as the Sun God. Festivities typically occur from around December 21-January 1st. Ways to celebrate are as follows; reflect on gratitudes of the year, take a solstice walk, make a Yule wreath, light a hearth fire, feed animals, tell legends around the fire, have a feast, light some candles. I hope you have a wonderful day! Blessed Be!

Outside:

  • Leave out birdseed ornaments as offerings to the season

  • If snowing, play in the snowfall to appreciate the changing season or collect some for snow water

  • After the sun has gone down, burn a yule log in a bonfire

  • Take some friends and go wassailing

In the Home:

  • Make stovetop potpourri as an alternative to incense 

  • DIY gifts with your witch skills for your friends and family 

  • Read a winter solstice tarot spread for yourself

  • Decorate your holiday tree, blessing the ornaments with good energy

  • Hang mistletoe for protection and (consensual!) kisses

In the Kitchen:

In the Bath:

  • Bathe with fresh orange slices and frankincense and myrrh essential oils for a prosperity ritual bath

  • Take a lazy witch holiday LUSH bath (suggestions here

  • Do a pre-solstice ritual bath with essential oils

  • Make winter spice bath bombs and enchant them for prosperity

On your Altar:

  • Use colors like reds, greens, whites, and metallic colors

  • Add holly, pine, ivy, mistletoe, juniper, or cedar for some greenery

  • Decorate with a yule wish bottle to for some easy magic

  • Represent the seasonal harvest with oranges, pears, nuts, and berries

  • Incorporate snowflake obsidian, clear quartz, or bloodstone



Here are all the links for the underlined things!















Saturday, October 31, 2020

Samhain


Samhain is typically celebrated from October 31st to November 1st. Today marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the “darker half” of the year. It's about halfway between autumn equinox & winter solstice. Samhain is the time to celebrate the lives of those who have passed on which includes paying respect to ancestors, family members, elders of the faith, friends & loved ones. The dead are invited to attend the festivities. I hope you have a wonderful day! Blessed Be.

Outside:

  • Light a bonfire at night with friends

  • Carve or decorate a pumpkin (maybe with astrology!) 

  • Visit a cemetery and leave an offering for the dead

  • Harvest the last of your herbs before winter

  • Appreciate the autumn season by collecting colored leaves

In the Home:

  • Decorate with apple tea light votives

  • Tell stories with loved ones about those who have passed

  • Make fall candles to light up the coming winter

  • Burn incense scented with pine, myrrh or cinnamon

  • Knit or crochet scarves and hats for the coming winter

In the Kitchen:

In the Bath:

On your Altar: 

  • Decorate with symbols of death like scythes or bones

  • Add personal items of passed loved ones or their pictures

  • Represent the seasonal harvest with foods like pumpkins, apples, dark bread, and ears of corn 

  • Use colors like black, red, orange, brown, and deep purple 

  • Incorporate black obsidian, smoky quartz, amber, or fossils 

*Note: Mugwort should NOT be used by those who are pregnant or nursing



Here are all the links for the underlined things!





www.hintofvanillablog.com






Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Mabon


Here are some ideas for Mabon!! I hope you have a wonderful day! Mabon is the 2nd harvest festival of the year out of three. Today encourages those who celebrate it to “reap what they sow” both literally & figuratively. Today is when night & day stand equal in duration. Mabon can be celebrated by asking for blessings, doing apple magic, listening to music, meditating on balance & praying for peace. I hope you have a wonderful day! Blessed Be.

Outside:

  • Notice the changing colors of the season

  • Collect colorful leaves, pinecones, and acorns

  • Harvest seasonal fruits and vegetables

In the Home:

In the Kitchen:

In the Bath:

On your Altar:

  • Decorate with Cinnamon Sticks, seeds, and baskets

  • Represent seasonal harvest vegetables like squash, corn, and apples

  • Use colors of red, yellow, orange, gold, and brown

  • Incorporate quartz, gold, amber, citrine, or aventurine



Here are the links to all the things underlined!












Saturday, August 1, 2020

Lammas


Here are some ideas for Lammas!! I hope you have a wonderful day! Lammas is celebrated on August 1st & is the first harvest festival of the year. A harvest festival is where bread baked from the first crop is blessed. Blessed Be.


Outside:

  • Use this day to harvest vegetables and herbs outside

  • Collect Berries to make bracelets and garlands

  • Collect seeds for next season’s sowing

  • Leave offerings as thanks for this year’s harvest

In the Home:

  • Burn Frankincense, Rose or Sandalwood incense

  • Fill the home with the smell of fresh-baked bread

  • Leave bowls of sunflower seeds and nuts around the house to snack on

  • Drink hoppy beers and ales

  • Make apple candle holders

In the Kitchen:

In the Bath:

  • Add skin-healing Calendula to your bath

  • Surround yourself with yellow and orange candles

  • Use a soothing moisturizing aloe lotion

On your Altar:

  • Incorporate symbols of the harvest with things like corn and wheat

  • Use shades of yellow, orange, gold and purple

  • Decorate with apples, corn, and wheat

  • Add yellow and golden stones likes citrine 

Links for the underlined things:


















Saturday, June 20, 2020

Midsummer/Litha


Here are some ideas for Midsummer/Litha!! I hope you have a wonderful day! Today is a period of time centered upon the summer solstice. Yellow, orange & red veggies represent the colors of the sun & the energy given to us on that day. Herbs such as mugwort, vervain, rose, honeysuckle, chamomile & more are used for ritualistic purposes, cooking, or for teas. Blessed Be!

Outside:

  • Collect Herbs and Flowers

  • Make Sun Tea

  • Build a bonfire

  • Have a sunrise or sunset picnic 

  • Sunbathe

  • Midsummer bonfire (collect ashes) 

  • Leave out honey offerings for the Fae

  • Cleanse and charge your magical items under the sun

  • Watch the sunset on the longest day of the year

  • Sunflowers, mint, sage, lavender

  • Enjoy outside, throw a party, go on a walk, bike ride, go to the beach

In the Home:

  • Let in as much sunlight as you can

  • Make crystal or botanical suncatchers

  • Burn incense of sandalwood, frankincense, rose or myrrh

  • Try fire divination or scrying with the flames 

  • Make pressed flower candles

  • Seashell jewelry, god’s eye, summer wreaths

In the Kitchen:

In the Bath:

  • Soak in a golden honey bath

  • Scatter sunflowers through your bathwater

  • Bathe around fiery solar colored candles

  • Treat yourself to a chamomile Tea Bath

On your Altar:

  • Great time for harder or more intense rituals (at night is best)

  • Represent the sun using colors of yellow, orange or gold

  • Incorporate solar imagery

  • Decorate with green stones like jade or emerald

  • Try decorating with woods of oak and pine

  • Fae magic, hope spells, fire magick, love/sex spells, protection & hope spells

  • Use golden candle holders and decorations

  • Incorporate dried or fresh-picked herbs

  • Decorate alter (green, yellow, gold) 

  • Fruity & flowery incense

  • Sunstone, amber, calcite


Links for the things underlined: