Ex Penna

That's right, I had to read it twice too, but it's for real--the Free Herbalism Project is an organization dedicated to sharing and spreading knowledge of our wild plant heritage through free events, seminars, workshops, and more. 

If I sound like I'm gushing, it's because I am!  Not only have I had years of excellent experiences as a customer through the project's host Mountain Rose Herbs, but also (as you all knowby now) I'm a big advocate of wild flowers and herbs, so this speaks directly to my heart.  If you are in or around Eugene, OR this October, you can check out their events live but the rest of us can enjoy a rich podcast online yearound.


The Free Herbalism Project

I've been thinking long and hard lately about many topics that are well worth discussing in print, but have since come to no conclusion how I should go about it.  Too much to say for an article, too little for a full-size manuscript.  What to do?

A free e-book, of course!



I have plans for a series of such little books, each one crammed with information that you need and want, but which is rarely discussed in the magical community.  And because these books are designed to be brief, you can print them out and take them anywhere without spending a fortune on ink and paper!  I'll be giving out copies for subscriptions to this blog (plus shares, reblogs, links, likes, and all that stuff) so that we can stay in touch long after you're done reading it.

The first e-book will be called The Everyday Classical Charm Sampler: New Spells in an Ancient Tongue, a selection of original spoken-magic written in Classical Latin!  And for those of who who don't study language--fear not!--each charm has a clear, phonetic pronunciation key.  They're each brief and arranged in groups with bold titles so you can start using these spells immediately and reference them again quickly.

I have many more tricks up my sleeve, but that is all I'm sharing for now.  (cue the sad face!)  If you have a topic that you'd like to see me add to the collection, let me know! 
 

The following is an excerpt from my as-yet unpublished manuscript, The Master Witch's Cheatbook: Transform Your Spells into Natural, Affordable, Powerful Works of Art, a guide to the gritty, fantastic world of magic for the beyond-beginner spellcaster.  If you enjoy this little snippet, let me hear about it!  Share your thoughts here in the comments, on Facebook, Twitter, private message, email, or Etsy.

To be blunt, your magic is your own and no one has the right to tell you what you can and can't do with it.  Your teacher will instruct you according to your age and advancement based on their tradition; your coven leader will guide and your elders will advise.  But in the end--maybe now or maybe years from now when no one is there to give instruction--you will make the decision and you will do what you want.

• I've cast curses, love spells, and other sprawling manipulations
• I've done so for pay and often on people I've never met
• I've turned down "good cause" magic because the individual wasn't willing to meet my fees
• I've taught minors how to cast their own spells
• I've published secrets and shared my BoS publicly

And I'm still here.  There were no lightning bolts from the sky and no divine decree was read out to me to dispute what I felt were--and still fully support--completely logical reasons.  I am a professional spellcaster and that means that I won't always be doing the sweetie-pie spells to make two puppies be best friends and junk.  Sometimes I'll be asked to make an enemy lose their job or move to a different town.  Some clients want to have another man's wife or to humiliate a rival.  I have to be ready to say yes or no to these requests, and as a professional, the more times I say "yes," the more business I get.  So I've made my decision on what I will and won't do, and for how much.  That's how this game is played.

But, you know, it's also something I do for personal reasons, as well, and I've been just as determined to use my own judgment in private as I am to the public.  To this end, I've cast spells that were totally ruled by my own amusement.  I've made sure annoying people were made to look foolish in public; I've won contests and prize drawings just because I wanted free stuff; I've made people call me on the phone, apologize first, and compliment me when I'm feeling blue.  I've done silly little things like making people trip or blurt out a secret, just because I felt like it.  One a more pleasant note, I once met a woman who looked at my then 8 months pregnant belly with a bittersweet expression because of how much she longed for a child of her own.  So I touched her belly and used my skills to make it ready for a new occupant.  She didn't ask for a spell, I didn't have to cast it, and some would say I shouldn't have done it at all.  But I wanted to, and it brought a good dose of magic to her life as well as my own.  This isn't so deadly serious, folks; it's as much a work as it is play!

So this is me hereby giving you complete permission to use your own inner set of rules to use your magic as you see fit.  If you mess up, you'll learn.  As you learn, you change.   If you run afoul of a stronger spellcaster, you'll hurt.  If someone else tries to run afoul of you (which seems to be the real fear behind all these rules), you have no choice but to become the stronger spellcaster. 

Now that you know you are free, get out there and play!

Voynich Manuscript


This book has fascinated me since I first heard about it several years ago.  And who can argue that it's mystery only grows more captivating the further we investigate--an unknown author, an indecipherable language, charts we don't understand, and images of plants that don't exist in this world.

Now you can download this precious manuscript and pore over it's secrets for yourself.  There is no telling if this was intended to be a magical book, an herbal, a medical guide, or something else we couldn't guess but it has been an inspiration to my work in many ways.  Perhaps it will stimulate your own.

Today we often think of it in only the broadest terms--there's good luck and there's bad.  If you have one, you know it.

Once you know your mindset and your desires, you're ready to do the most important part of becoming lucky--removing everything else.  All too often I've had clients lament how hard they've tried to make good things come to them, but never once think of all the bad that must be washed away first.  Think of your life as a pond.  The water in it has grown stagnant and sour, full of muck and grime that only brings down everything around it.  It can't sustain life or give beauty, so you want to fix it.  You get the biggest buckets you can find and start dumping fresh water into the pond, but it's not helping--the water's just as green as ever.  It might actually be stirring up sediment from the bottom and making an even greater mess.  What to do?

You have to create channels and move that water!  Don't add anything just yet.  You need to start with what you have now and clear out the garbage.  Open up and let all the bad stuff fall away.  That's your first job.

This is where I always tell people that cleansing is the best way to start anything new, especially where luck is concerned.  Cleanse like mad!  Cleanse everything--your house, your workplace, your car, your family members, your body.  Wash down your walls, smudge and fume with incense, sprinkle with magical waters, burn dressed and dusted candles, drum, ring bells, make sigils, chant...do it all!  It will only help!

Once you've done all the cleansing you can, it's also important to get--and stay--in an open frame of mind.  Forget all the bad stuff of the past; you're forging a new future and it starts today.  You must be ready to spot the positive changes your work is creating or you risk losing all.  Doing this can be a difficult step but, happily, it requires no components and no real actions.  As George says in The Yellow Submarine: "It's all in the mind."

Now, at long last, we're ready for some spells!

Some quickie magic to make you lucky in a hurry:

• Watch for "found objects": pennies, pins, horseshoes, keys, plus the traditional four-leaf clover.
• Say the Romany chant "Trinka Five, Trinka Five, Money magic come live!' to bring prosperity and money luck.
• Be certain that the first word you utter on the first day of the month is "Rabbits" and your luck will be assured.
• Spying a bat in flight is extremely lucky, as is a cricket in your house.  Treat both kindly and allow them to stay (or return) outdoors where they're happiest. 
• Keep an image of a pig in your home or speak the German pig-luck invoking phrase "Schwein Gehabt" to invite good fortune and plenty.
• Wear talismanic jewelry with scarab beetles
• Before embarking on a special event, make the hand sign of "Mano Fico".

• Clover--we all know about the four-leaf clover, but the whole plant (no matter its number of leaves) brings luck and money to your home!
• Ginger--this is the go-to herb when you need a catalyst, strengthener, and adrenaline rush for spells!  For those times when it feels like good things will never come, add some ginger to all your spells as well as to your bath, tea, and cooking.  Get yourself out of a rut and ready to welcome in new opportunity and happiness with a quickness!
• Cloves--makes you lucky in games of chance, especially, but also money and friendships.
• Allspice--carry 7 berries in your pocket or string them on a thread to wear around your neck.  Money luck and general good fortune await you for the next 7 days!
• Chamomile--a hand wash of this herb gives you gambling luck, but you can also use it for any kind of good fortune in which you use your hands.
• Juniper--makes you successful in whatever you choose to do. 
• 5 Finger Grass/Cinquefoil--a favorite of mine, it's said to bring you "anything five fingers could want."  That's quite a lot, no?
• Alfalfa--boost any other luck magic with a dose of this herb, or keep some under your front doormat to draw in a slow, steady flow of money.

Now is the time to take a moment and think about what it is you really want.  Write it down.  Get everything perfectly clear.  Now force out everything that says "no" in your head.  After that, use what you've just read above and good fortune is assured.  It's just that easy!

Good luck to you!

Now that Spring is on its way again, I'd like to take the time to talk about one of my favorite magical herbs, Coltsfoot.

If you're out walking, this will liekly be the first bit of color you see once the snows melt.  Its name refers to the distinctive horse-print shape of the leaves.

One of my favorite folk names of Coltsfoot is the evocative "The Son Before the Father," which notes its peculiar habit of sprouting thin spires of small orange flowers from the bare ground and then dying away before the leaves sprout.  A strange sight in the gray early spring woods, to be sure!

In magic, the leaves are the part most used and any formula requiring it is speaking about this part of the plant.  It's an excellent additive to love spells as well as those for money and peace.

My favorite use of Coltsfoot is one that I don't mention in the shop due to concerns over selling smokables on site, but it is a traditional and useful bit of magic.  By either smoking the herb in a hand-rolled cigarette or fumigating it in a censer and inhaling the smoke just before going to bed, one can induce wildly vivid dreams.  This is a handy trick if you're attempting astral travel, lucid dreaming, or just want to have some nighttime fun.  There are a great many spells designed to bring up specific dreams (or try this formula I shared last year) and combining them is a great way to expand your abilities.