The Magick of Melissa

Lemon balm or  Melissa officinalis, is also known as Bee balm, Blue balm, Balm mint, Cure all, Dropsy plant, Garden balm, Melissa, and Sweet Balm. A perennial herb in the Lamiaceae mint family, and native to south central Europe and the Mediterranean region.

A rainy day brought about my kitchen being enchantingly scented with lemon balm, as I made jelly, syrup, infused honey, and a tea for the shop, and in doing so it’s folklore came to mind.

Lemon Balm has folklore dating back to ancient Turkey, where it was planted near bee hives to encourage the bees to return home to the hives rather than swarm away. It’s name “Melissa officinalis” is derived from the Greek word Melissa, meaning honeybee, 🐝 and the herb was planted and used by the beekeepers of the Temple of Artemis to help keep the sacred honeybees content.

Gender: Feminine

Elemental Association: Water

Planetary Association: Venus

Magickally speaking being an herb of Venus makes lemon balm great to work with in love spells, especially if it’s love that’s gone astray. For this herb is connected to the bee. A creature of Mars and fiery passions, adding a darker note to its magickal abilities with the bee’s venom and honey being used in different traditions of folk magick. Bees are in folklore tales from around the world, and have connections with everything from abundance to death….

The Witchcraft Museum in Boscastle has a charm for sale that promises happiness, health, and good fortune. This charm includes three ceramic bumblebees in a blue bag, a modern day version from the old folk charm in which its based on that sadly required three dead bumblebees in the bag instead. Bees have long been associated with witches, and folklore tells of a Lincolnshire witch who was said to possess a bee as her familiar. Another tale tells of a male witch from Nova Scotia who was accused of killing a cow by sending a white bumblebee to land on it.

Several deities are associated with bee magick such as Aphrodite, Cybele, Pan and Ra to name a few.

Mundane uses for Lemon Balm include it’s main feature that of a tranquilizer. It calms the mind, a nervous stomach, colic, or heart spasms, and the leaves are said to lower blood pressure. It is a very gentle herb, although quite effective. I prize lemon balm for another reason though, that being it’s abilities in helping a broken heart, stress, anxiety, and depression. Lemon Balm’s anti-histamine qualities give aid in treating eczema and headaches, and for centuries have been used in the age old tradition of applying fresh leaves to insect bites or wounds. You can also rub the leaves on your skin to keep bugs at bay.

Lemon balm tea heated will bring upon sweating to aid the body in detoxifying, and is great to help speed up recovery from colds and flu.

Lemon balm is enchanting infused in mead or a white wine, a way to comfort the heart, and drive away the demons of sadness.

Here’s a couple recipes with lemon balm to try ~

Lemon balm Cordial 🍃

In a clean quart canning jar add some ruffly chopped lemon balm that you have rinsed and patted dry, filling the jar about 3/4 full. To this add about a teaspoon of lavender buds, and some zest from a lime. Fill the rest of the jar with a good vodka, and place a piece of plastic wrap over the jar to prevent the lid from corroding. Shake well, and place in a cool dark place, shaking daily. Try a taste in a couple of days, and if it’s strong enough to your liking strain the vodka infusion and pour back into another clean jar. Add some raw organic honey to taste and shake well to combine the honey into the cordial. Store in a bottle and serve with some tonic water, or just over ice.

Lemon balm Iced Tea

Fill your teapot with 12 cups water and bring it to a boil. Add to this 2 tablespoons of crushed dried lemon balm leaves, 1 teaspoon of lavender buds, (lemon balm and lavender pair great together), and 1 tablespoon green tea. Steep this for 6 minutes. Strain and sweeten to taste with raw organic honey. Chill over ice and enjoy!

So try these recipes, or try some of my lemon balm confections at the shop, http://etsy.me/31Swxzl but don’t miss out on the Magick of Melissa…

The End of the Long Nights… and Shadow Work

We often hear talk about doing “shadow work” in the pagan community, but what exactly is shadow work? When is the best time to do this type of work? And how does one benefit from it? Well first you have to think about what the “shadow” truly is. Shadow work is a psychological term for the things we cannot or choose not to see in ourselves. The shadow in essence is the “dark side” of one’s personality, as it consists of more primitive, raw and negative, (dark) human emotions and impulses. Feelings of desire, greed, rage, envy, selfishness and just true darkness in nature.

Those feelings one is not necessarily proud of, the evil or darker emotions we don’t reveal to others, but exist just the same, these emotions become our shadows… Anything that is incompatible with one’s chosen conscious self is to be considered part of the dark side. Repressing these emotions makes them a part of our unconscious mind.

The ancient Greeks thought to honor all of the parts of the psyche. For them, these parts were worshiped as deities.
The Greeks believed that those dark emotions or deities people denied, would become the emotions or energy that turned against them….
Perfect example of this would be Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll a gentlemen, and the good conscious side of the personality decides to drink a magickal potion to divide his dark impulses or shadow side, and create a creature free of this conscience for his devious acts….Mr.Hyde. Dr. Jekyll soon learns that he can not control the actions of his darker self. The moral to this story being… Such is the fate of anyone who denies their shadow.

To begin shadow work look to the wolf spirit, as this is a majestic creature of both light and dark. The Native Americans regarded the wolf with respect and reverence, understanding the creatures true light and dark natures.

Lycans or shapeshifters
Creatures of the night howling their alliance to the moon….

Wolves have associations with unbelievably cunning tactics, raw lethal aggression, and true darkness. Yet the wolf also possesses balance and light, as this creature is intelligent, beautiful, a loyal pack member, and a fierce protector of their young. This makes the wolf a superb spirit animal to work with for the depths of shadow work. Make further connections with this spirit animal by means of a poisonous plant, Datura and it’s essence. I add a few drops of this potion to my Dark Moon tea. The dark moon (before the visible crescent) is perfection for shadow work. Datura is a plant that works with both the wolf and coyote, and can be used for Venus, Moon, or Saturn energies and spells. A dark plant and essence that can give aid to shape shifting.

Shadow work is best done throughout the Saturn period, the last 52 days of the zodiac year. From January 27th to approximately March 21st for the Northern Hemisphere. Medieval astrologers spoke of Saturn as the Greater Malefic, the other being the fiery planet Mars, and with that I totally agree. Saturn is associated with the principles of limitation, restrictions, boundaries and discipline. Saturn is the planet of true karma, and is considered the higher octave of the moon, together entwined with her in the concept of karma. The symbol for Saturn itself being a cross over a crescent moon. Saturn manifests whatever you are not dealing with in your life and makes you address it, and can be called upon in ritual to make one’s karmic lessons or shadow work clearer.

So as the sunlight and warming temperatures melt the darkness of winter and shadow work away from these woods, I say farewell to the shadow, but surely not to the darkness. For spring brings back a glow to the hollow hills, bringing round to forests edge what has been dwelling in the darkness of winters death….. To be continued

Hekate’s Night

Tonight when dusk arrived … until the following days night, is the yearly celebration of Hekate’s Night. 💀🍷🍄

Hekate’s time is also that of the Dark ✨🌚✨ Moon, a time of release and renewal. As well as on the 30th of each month, where she is honored and libations are offered. There is also the Rite of Her Sacred Fires✨🔥✨on the May Full Moon of each year. ✨🌝💐✨

It is said that her name means”The Distant One”, and I get that, but I gratefully find her close in times of need. Guiding us to release the old familiar ways, and to find our way through the darkness of new beginnings….

A Three formed Goddess. Hekate is part of the most ancient form of the triple Moon goddess as Crone or Goddess of the Dark Moon. This is also the night of Hekate’s supper at the Crossroads. Those who worshiped her honored her by performing Sympathetic Magick and holding a supper at what they believed to be the Crossroads.

She is associated with the torch, keys, 🔑 the crossroads, entrance-ways, night, and has vast knowledge of herbs and poisonous plants. She is one with spirits, necromancy and sorcery.

Animal wise she is linked to the dog, horse, sheep (especially black female lambs), owls, bats, 🦇 boars and snakes. 🐍

Offer this dark deity food such as mushrooms, saffron, raisins and currants, gourds and pumpkins.

Libations of red wine 🍷 and mead (honey wine) are well received, as honey 🍯 is also an offering for her.

Crone magick in abundance, bewitching evening all.

The Moth and the Witch

The Moth is of the Lepidoptera family, with 11,000 species here in United States alone. Moths like bats and owls are a creature of the night, and also a known familiar of the witch…

Insects like animals can also be spirits guides, as the dragon fly teaches us of magick, transformation and mysticism, so the bee shows us community, hard work, and abundance.

I have had visits from the moth as of late, reappearing here and there for awhile now. So I took this as a possible omen of sorts, and when I really looked into information about the moth I not only found the reason for it’s visit, but plenty of folklore as well.

Moth Folklore ~ 

Moths in your home can be an indication of quarrels between you and your lover, or that enemies are working against you.

If a moth flies around you at night, it’s an indication you will receive a letter. If it be a maiden, then a letter from her lover she will receive. 

If a moth flies into a candle flame, and in doing so puts the flame out, it is an omen that someone in your household will be snuffed out as well.

If you are visited by a brown moth within your home it is often a sign telling you to be a bit more skeptical of who you let into your house and trust. This moth tells you to be rid of excess clutter, negative habits, people, or negative relationships in your life.

There are Native American tribes that believe the moth is to be considered a sacred creature, and should be held in the highest regard. A creature that deals with both light and dark, and can be a messenger from the dead, or can be a symbol of a possible upcoming death as well.

Then there is the folklore of the Black Witch, or Black Witch Moth. This spirit guide is more complex, and depending on the location of the folklore, can bring darkness and certain death, to prosperity and riches. One thing is certain, if this moth appears by your door, you will most definitely have an experience with the occult and the magickal realms…
There is also a White Witch Moth.Appalachian legend telling of this spirit guide bringing news of one’s ancestors being amongst them, and giving a sense of safety and protection. To me dreams of these enchanting moths are similar to the vibrational influences of the quartz crystal. Energy of light, higher realms, and magickal possibilities.

Flower Essences and the Magick of Poisons

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/witchofthewoodwithravenwood/2020/07/flower-essences-and-the-magick-of-poisons/

The Witch and the Hare, a Spring Equinox Tale

Spring Equinox is a magickal time, even if one is still buried within winter’s snow. I gaze out of my window to the wood as I write this, seeing winter’s frozen crusted snowbanks, and iced remains. This being due to the melting during the day, and refreezing by night, a big part of springtime here in the woods. Although still resembling a winter’s wood, it is what lies beneath, and the folklore within this magickal time of spring, that takes me to this season and it’s celebrations.

There be folktales of huntsmen traveling out into the wood, coming across hares and shooting, only to be taken aback by the transformations from the hare into a hag after death…
In Britain it was considered a bad omen to be crossed by a hare, as it was believed that witches were able to shape shift into hares and other animal fetches by spell and by chant, as this bewitching little spell from the British Isles ~I shall go into a hare, with sorrow and such and muckle care. And I shall go in the Devil’s name. Ay, till I come home again.

It is told that the witch could transform herself into a hare and steal milk from her neighbors cows, or would use a young boy for hire. The boy being able to locate the hares for the hunters at a price, always being able to find them, even when the hares seemed scarce. In 1662 a Scottish woman by the name of Isobel Gowdie confessed to practicing the art of witchcraft, and to being able to shape shift into her fetch the hare at will. She told the tale of being sent by the Devil to deliver a message to her neighbors, but ended up being chased into her home by hounds, escaping by reciting a reverse spell ~
Hare, hare, God send thee care! I am in a hare’s likeness now; But I shall be a woman even now… Hare, hare, God send thee care!

The Spring Equinox is about the blossoming of fertility, sexuality, growth, and an awakening of both the flora and fauna. For my woods this time has yet to arrive, so in it’s stead I must go to other realms, by way of the hare… I use and work with a synergy of plant essence, in particular one of Henbane and Honeysuckle. Plant spirits giving aid to enhancing psychic abilities, working with the fae, shape shifting, and connecting to the fetch. So as I prepare for my equinox flight, I wish you all the beauty and light of this magickal day. )0(