Using Herbs
Healing With Herbs: Magickal Uses for Herbs:
Aromatherapy A-Z of Herbs and their properties
Healing with herbs Herbal substitutions
Incense

Herbal Recipes
Healing Ointments Perfume Incense Essential Oils and Perfume
Magickal Inks Tinctures Lip Balm


Making your own Herbal recipes

You can make your own tinctures, ointments/salves, incense and oils without too much effort.  They are not only fun to make, but generally have stronger magickal power than those you buy readymade.  As you are making the potions you can chant, sing, draw pentagrams or other symbols as you are stirring.  You can add the ingredients specifically for the type of spell you wish to do.  If you store them well you can keep your potions/incenses etc. for use later.

Incense
The easiest form of incense is the "loose incense".  This is powdered incense that you burn on a incense charcoal block  To make this, you crush herbs in a mortar and pestle, until you have a powder, and you spoon a small amount of this mixture onto the block to burn.  You will need to replace the herbs quite frequently as they become ashes on the block.  You can make some in advance and store it in an airtight container. You can make a self-burning version of this, by adding a small amount of saltpetre (Potassium nitrate) and sandalwood powder to the powdered herbs.  This should make incense that will continue to burn after you light it, without the need for a charcoal block.  You will need to experiment with the amount of Saltpetre you add to the mixture.  Too much Salt Petre, and it flares and spits too much, not enough, and it will not stay lit.  Adding the saltpetre to water, and mixing it through when wet, then waiting for it to dry before using it a way to get an even distribution.

To make stick incense (Also called “joss sticks”), roll a bamboo skewer (or a ready made stick for incense making) in the moist herbal paste, let it dry and then use them as you would any other incense stick.  You will need to experiment with the thickness of herbal mixture.  Another way to make easy stick incenses is to take a cheap incense stick that doesn’t have much of a scent, or a sandalwood one, and soaking it in a fragrant or essential oil.  To make cone incense, you must make the herbal mixture and add it to a paste of Gum Arabic or Gum Mastic, mixed with the oils/water and saltpetre.  Make the paste into the desired shapes, and allow them to dry before burning.

 Incense Cones #1
1/2 cup water
1 tb. plus 1 tsp. gum Arabic

Mix well. Gradually add 1/2 cup fine sawdust and 1/8 cup dried herbal mixture until a "dough" forms. Form into a paste, and mould into cones.  Leave dry for 24 hours

Incense Cones #2
2 tb. gum tragacanth
1 tb. gum benzoin
1 tb. charcoal powder (or sandalwood or sawdust powder)
1 tsp. potassium nitrate
1 tsp. fragrance oil               4 tb. water
Dissolve tragacanth and Potassium Nitrate in the water. Add remaining ingredients to form a paste. Roll into cones and let dry.

Incense Cones #3
5 tb. gum arabic
6 oz. powdered charcoal
1 oz. gum benzoin
1 tsp. sandalwood powder
Mix the gum with enough water to make a paste. Add scented oils or powdered herbs of your choice.  Shape into cones and allow to dry

Please note: you may need to experiment with these recipes.  Some herbs spell nice when they are fresh, but not when they are dry. Some nice smelling herbs also small shocking when burned. 



Healing Ointments
You need to use a base that will be solid at room temperature, but liquid when heated, Vaseline is great for this.  Gently heat 1 cup of Vaseline over low heat until it has liquefied.  Make sure that it doesn't burn.  Add ¼ cup of your herbal mixture (From dried crushed herbs of your choice - look in the listing of herbs for healing), mix with a wooden spoon. Continue stirring over a very low heat for a few minutes.  Strain, and pour into a heatproof container (such as a canning jar).  Add ¼ teaspoon of benzoin tincture as a natural preservative.  Label the jar - listing herbs used.  Store in the refrigerator.   Do not apply to broken skin.


Lip Balm
This recipe makes a very thick balm, so you might like to add more to the recipe if you would like it to be softer.  Place equal parts of grated Beeswax and oil into a double boiler (Or a ceramic bowl in a pan of water). You can use any oil, Apricot kernel for a light balm (cosmetic), Avocado for a heavy balm (for very dry skin) olive, hazelnut, sesame or some other vegetable oil.  Stir until the wax has melted. Remove from the heat and let cool very slightly, until it has just begun to thicken.  (This is so that the hot wax won't evaporate the oils.)  Now add the Essential oils to the wax (Sandalwood is great for dry or oily skin - it balances).  Stir thoroughly with a wooden spoon and pour into a heatproof container.  Store in the fridge.


Tinctures
Take a jar with about 1 cup of herbal mixture in the bottom.  Pour in Vodka or isopropyl alcohol to cover the herbs, plus another 2 cm.  Leave this for 2 weeks, shaking often.  Strain off the herbs, and you will have a Tincture.  Do not ingest this.

You can use tinctures like anointing oils.  Benzoin tincture has another property, it will help stop oils going rancid, so it is useful to add a few drops of Benzoin tincture to all essential oil blends, and any ointments etc. to help preserve them.

Myrrh tincture apparently helps set a scent, and helps prevent the scent fading over time.



Magickal inks
Some people like to write their spells or write in their BOS with special inks.  These can be purchased or you can make them.  (You’ll need a nib pen or something similar) To make a Magickal ink you crush the herbs you are going to use and place them in a jar (You don’t have to use exact measurements),  add red wine or Vodka to cover the herbs plus 1cm.  Red Wine will help to add to the colour of the ink, and I like to add coffee and tea to help give colour.  Leave this for 2 weeks.  You can add food colouring to make coloured inks, and rose/Lavender or other floral water to make scented ink if you wish.  The following are ingredients I use for the 3 most common inks:
Bat’s Blood ink Dove’s blood ink Dragon’s blood ink
Dragon’s blood resin Dragon’s blood resin Dragon’s blood resin
Coffee grounds Coffee grounds Coffee grounds
Tea leaves Tea leaves Tea leaves
Myrrh Bay leaves
Cinnamon Cinnamon Cinnamon
Cloves Cloves Cloves
(Scent - Lavender water) (Scent - Rose water) (Scent - Rose water)
(Colour - blue) (Colour - purple) (Colour - Red)

Of course the “Bat’s Blood”  etc. names are just names, the ink doesn’t contain blood at all.  Having said that, some religions (like Voodoo) do use blood as ink.  But from a Wiccan point of view this is wrong, as you are killing animals, which many Pagans believe is as wrong as killing a person.

When I make ink I don’t use exact quantities, but I’ll estimate the amounts I use.  I use a big jar with a sealable lid.  To this I add 1 bottle of cheap red wine (The quality doesn’t matter for ink making).  This leave a wine smell, which you can cover up with Rose water or another floral water if you wish.  But it also adds a red colour, which I like.  Some people use Vodka instead of wine, so that they don’t make a reddish ink (If they want to make green or something) and it doesn’t leave a red wine smell.  I put about ¼ cup of coffee grounds and about ¼ of tea leaves in to help add colour.  These will give a brown colour and also add to the smell.  I then put about 5 crushed cinnamon sticks, about ¼ cup of cloves, about 1 tablespoon of turmeric (For a yellow colour), about a teaspoon of frankincense granules, about a teaspoon of dragon’s blood powder, about 1/8 cup of cracked black pepper (I love the stuff) and any other herbs I feel like adding.  I then leave this for about a week, stirring occasionally.  I strain it into  smaller jars and add different food colours to each jar.  As much as I think it needs to make a good ink.   I keep this in the fridge, to help preserve it.



Perfume
Some people like to make a special perfume to wear when in rituals, or a specific perfume to use when invoking specific Gods and Goddesses.  You can do this by adding essential oils to a carrier oil – which will make an oily perfume.  Or you can add them to vodka or isopropyl alcohol.  As I mentioned above, you might like to add some Benzoin tincture to the mix, to preserve it.  When I did this my perfume went white and cloudy… I am not sure if I put too much benzoin in it or not (I did use quite a bit more than a few drops)

Try making blends using oils for the Goddesses and God and wearing them in ritual when you invoke them.



Essential Oils/Perfume #2
You can make your own Essential oils (and get a perfume as a by product) by taking a jar and putting the plant matter into the bottom.  Cover with alcohol and leave sit for 2 weeks, shaking often.  Strain the herbs off and freeze the mixture.  The alcohol won't freeze, but the oil will, so just pick off any frozen bits and these are Essential oils, and the alcohol left over is a perfume (or you can use it to extract more essential oils)
Back to Obsidian's Book Of Shadows| Contact
© Obsidian 2001 All Rights Reserved
Copying information from this page without the author's permission is breach of copyright.