Permaculture in Witchcraft

image by Graham Burnett

Recently, I’ve been really interested in permaculture, and the ways in which I could implement it within my personal life. One of the ways I’ve been considering is within my witchcraft practise, and I thought that I would share my musings with you.

They may be good journal prompts…

Permaculture is… 

a set of design principles based on the interconnected systems present within nature. It is commonly used by gardeners, farmers, and ecologists - but there are a growing number of people who use permaculture principles within other areas, such as architecture, sociology, and therapy. 

Permaculture is for designers, and as witches, we are constantly designing the spiritual landscape of ourselves and our places. 

Permaculture is a grassroots social movement, and so there is not simply one set of tenants or principles, instead every person creates the principles of permaculture that suit their needs and wishes best. Permaculture focuses heavily on free information and accessible resources, so for those who would like to know more about permaculture, here is a list of resources. 

Permaculture principles 

I am using Starhawk’s Common Sense Permaculture Principles for this, but I would recommend also researching other principles, or creating your own. 

The three core tenets of Permaculture are:

Care for the earth: Provision for all life systems to continue and multiply. This is the first principle, because without a healthy earth, humans cannot flourish.

Care for the people: Provision for people to access those resources necessary for their existence

Fair share: By governing our own needs, we can set resources aside to further the above principles.This includes returning waste back into the system to recycle into usefulness. The third ethic is referred to as Fair Share, which reflects that each of us should take no more than what we need before we reinvest the surplus.

- Wikipedia

Everything is connected

Everything is interwoven: our relationship with ourselves, with other people, with our local environment, and with our global home, are all connected and flow together. Our witchcraft allows us to notice these woven threads, to pull on them, to create, grow and design. By influencing one aspect of our life, there will be effects within other aspects. We need to consider our lives together as one big tapestry, of which we are just one thread. 

Nature moves in circles

Nature is cyclical. Everything has its ending and its beginning. Life grows from death and death meets with life. How can we acknowledge these cycles within our practise? If we use a resource from the earth for our practice, we must find a way to replenish it and restore balance.

Energy is abundant but not unlimited

We use our own energy, and the surrounding energy of the universe for our magic. These resources will be depleted if they are not allowed to rest and recover themselves. Be discerning with how you use your own energy and the energy of your environment. Find ways to recycle and return energy to the earth. 

Do more with less

Everything serves more than one purpose and function. Use the tools of your trade wisely. You have everything that you need for your practise already within you. Observe, design and create your magic before you jump in, the chances are that you can find a way to do it more easily. 

Resilience is true security

Build your independence and resilience by being creative, how can your magical landscape help with this? Your resilience comes from confidence in your own abilities and skills. Plan and prepare for dark days, so that they will pass by more smoothly.

Build from the ground up

Ground and root yourself within your local environment. Learn about your history, your culture and your ancestors. The best witchcraft grows from being grounded in your sense of place.

Take responsibility: feed what you want to grow

What do you want to grow and nurture in your life? How can you use your magic practise to bring these things to fruition? Show gratitude and give thanks to the things that you love… 

Get some! Obtain a yield

There’s a reason why we have chosen to be witches and magic practitioners. We want to improve our lives, and the lives of others. What do you want to draw towards yourself? Make clear, realistic goals with how you can achieve these things - and work towards them. 

Creativity is an unlimited resource

Your creativity is your most valuable tool in your journey to achieve your dreams. Find this creativity within yourself, in the earth, and within other people - acknowledge and respect it. Think creatively on this journey that you are on, and you’ll find what you’re looking for.

“Permaculture is the regeneration of people and place.” - Penny Livingston-Stark

Types of Herbal Remedies

I’ve compiled a list of types of herbal remedies, with brief instructions on how to make them. Choose your herbs carefully, as some are poisonous, some will interfere with health problems and medications, and some can cause allergic reactions.

If you are concerned about any health issue you have, or worried about herbs reacting with your medications, go talk to your doctor. This post is not intended as medical advice.

Compress

This is usually cloth that has been soaked in a herbal infusion so that it can be applied topically. Useful for skin issues, muscle pain, joint pain, and general aches.

You can make one by soaking cotton wool in a warm infusion of your choice, wrapping the balls in a piece of clean cloth, and applying to the affected area. Once the cloth cools down you can soak it again in the warm tea and reapply.

Infusion

This is basically the herbalist term for tea. The herbs are usually dried and ground before being steeped in very hot water and then strained out. If you use a bag then you can skip the straining.

Tincture

This is similar to an infusion but much stronger, and with alcohol instead of water, which helps to preserve it.

Put your herbs in a jar. Cover them with alcohol (most people I know use vodka). Put the lid on the jar and shake it daily for a month or so, then strain the herbs out. I tend to keep mine in the little dropper bottles, as you normally don’t need to take much at once.

Decoction

I like to think of these as a stronger infusion. You need four times as much boiling water as dried herb, and you want to simmer the mixture for about half an hour before straining.

Syrup

These are herbs mixed with a sugary substance, which makes them easier to consume and helps to preserve them a little. They’re a good way to get your herbs in if you have a sore throat, as they are often quite soothing.

You’ll need a couple ounces of fresh herb per pint of water. Put them on the stove and heat until about half of the water has evaporated. Then you need to add about five tablespoons of sugar/honey/maple syrup per pint of water you used originally (so if you put two pints in the pan, you need ten tablespoons). Keep stirring for about twenty minutes, then take it off the heat and bottle it up. You need to keep syrups in the fridge, preferably in a dark coloured jar or bottle.

Balm

Essential oils and beeswax, basically. Add about twenty drops of essential oil to a cup of melted beeswax, stick it in a jar, let it cool, and there you go! You can mix in juiced herbs if you like, but that’s optional.

Salve

A salve is basically essential oils mixed with beeswax, oils and herbs. I have seen them made with coconut oil, though if you live in a warmer environment then coconut oil won’t work for you as it melts. You need about fifty/fifty dried herbs and beeswax (if you live somewhere warm) or use a mixture of beeswax and an oil like olive or safflower if you live somewhere colder, just so it’s soft enough to use. Use about twenty drops of oil per cup of beeswax. You’ll need to melt the wax in a double boiler, and let the herbs infuse in the molten wax for about half an hour. Then you add your essential oils, and pour the molten salve into the containers and let it cool.

Ointment

This is basically a liquid balm or salve. Follow the methods above, but use oil instead of beeswax.

Bath

When taking a herbal bath, you are basically making a giant cup of tea! Fill an organza bag with your chosen herbs, and put it in the bath while you run the water, then remove it before you get in. You can reuse the bag of herbs, but they lose potency with each use, so I try to avoid doing this.

Poultice

This is a paste of herbs and sometimes other things that is applied to the skin. Used for infections, splinters, burns, boils etc. They’re pretty simple to make, you just mix some dried herbs with a tiny bit of boiling water to form a paste, put it on the area, and use a piece of cloth or gauze to keep it there. If you want to use fresh herbs you just mash them up.

Gardens of the Witches

Already starting to plan this years garden so I thought I should do a post on Witch Gardens

Moonlight Garden

A garden that blooms in the moonlight, a great place to perform night time rituals, meditations, or to just take a midnight stroll. A garden that is full of magick even after the sun sets. 

Plants to add in your moonlight garden:

Any plant that blooms after dark or has white, lavender, pale pink, pale yellow on it is a perfect addition to your moonlight garden. 

Things to add:

Herb Garden

For witches who need a more practical garden for uses of healing, tea crafting, drying, and growing plants used in their practices.

Plants to add to your herb garden:

Things to add:

Bee Garden

Make yourself a sanctuary to watch bees frolic and thrive

Plants to add to your bee garden:

Things to add:

Some other ideas for your garden:

The options are endless! I hope this gives you some ideas for this years garden.

Happy planting!

==Moonlight Academy==

Ten Mistakes New Herb Gardeners Make (and How to Avoid Them!)

Some really useful info here if you’re new to herb gardening.

Plant Witchcraft: A Beginner’s Guide to Growing 🌿

Easiest plants to grow in witchcraft (in order from easiest to hardest)!

Chives - can grow in limited light and space, very easily propagate (regrow)

Mint - very hardy, requires shade and some light, start from seeds

Cilantro - fast growing, can be planted indoors, does not transplant easily

Basil - can grow in small spaces, require sun, start from seeds

Parsley - easy to grow, low maintenance and limited lights, though hard to germinate

Oregano (wild marjoram) - very hardy, easy to grow in winter, requires full sun

Sage - large, hardy, start from cuttings, requires full sun

Thyme - requires full sun, hardy, easy to propagate from seeds or cuttings

Aloe Vera - easy to overwater, low maintenance, slow growing, little water, full sun

Chamomile - low maintenance, little water, full sun with some shade, easy to overwater

Dill - start as seeds, small, easy to grow indoors, hard to overwater, requires full sun

Rosemary - though very large, easy to grow indoors and easy to overwater

Bay laurel - requires well-draining soil, full sun, water often, grows large, slow growing

Lavender - hard to grow indoors, requires little water, best in dry conditions, start from seeds

Roses - requires full sun, seasonal, grows only outside, requires fertilizer, best grown from transplants

Danielle Nierenberg, President of Food Tank, shares a sustainability pro-tip in honor of Earth Day. Instead of wasting leftover pasta water by pouring it down the sink, you can save it, let it cool and use it to water your plants. The starchy H2O will give them a beneficial nutrient boost and help them grow. Just be sure to avoid using cooking water that has been salted or seasoned.

This also applies to leftover water from boiling spinach, potatoes, and hardboiled eggs, according to Reader’s Digest.

A Word on Plants

I wanted to make this post to talk a bit about associations and replacements in spellwork, particularly with regard to plants because they serve as an easy example. For instance, originally coming from the South, my first recommendation for keeping someone faithful would be Magnolia - it’s widely available where I’m from, easily accessible, local, and I’ve worked with it in the past so I understand its uses. However, a practitioner living in California would likely be better served replacing Magnolia with something like American Licorice, a fidelity plant which is local and available to them. 

Understanding your local area is important so that you can understand and use local ingredients. Why is an ingredient included in a spell? Can it be replaced or improved on? Why is this ingredient associated with X and does that hold up to your own experiences with that ingredient? If I suggest an ingredient (or if you see something listed on a massive correspondence/association list) it is always worth your while to think about what that ingredient’s job in the spell is to be, why it’s associated with something, and what might work better for you based on your own experiences (which might very well differ from what some list tells you) and what is local and available to you. 

This may not always be the case, of course, and you may well encounter spells that absolutely require a specific ingredient over another (particularly if you’re practicing in a specific tradition). However, for my own suggestions and for my belief that your practice should derive from your locality and your experiences, it is so necessary to think more actively about why you’re using one thing over another. Consult local guides. Consult other local practitioners. Ask the plants themselves! But if you’re putting together a spell for faithfulness and I suggest Magnolia, just know that that is always coming from my own practice and experience and that you are certainly allowed and always encouraged to rethink how such a suggestion might better be adapted for your own practice, which likely won’t look like my own. 

it makes me so mad that people aren’t taught that you can just... clone plants.

W h at

yeah!! it takes like, five minutes and costs nothing/next to nothing (depending on what plant it is). which is why im especially mad that literally no one talks about it except for like, exclusive gardening circles :/

each plant has different cloning techniques but here are the ones i remember;

basil/peppermint/tomato/most leafy greens with a stem; cut a piece off your main plant about the size of your hand. trim all the bottom leaves, cut stem diagonally, put in jar of water. when roots are about the size of the stem, plant in garden.

onion/garlic; the easiest. just leave whole onion or a garlic clove in a nice sunny area. eventually it will sprout. plant in garden.

pineapple; takes a long time. take spiky leafy part, trim off the bottom leaves, put in water about as deep as the leafless part. wait. a. long. time. (mine took two weeks to root.) when roots are big, plant in garden.

flowers, bushes, trees; get your hands on some rooting hormone (or willow tree branches). cut stems the same way as the leafy greens above, make sure to cut stems diagonally (greater chance of rooting.) dip in water, dip in rooting hormone, shake off excess, and place in water/dirt. these are pretty hard to get to root, especially if you don’t have rooting hormone. 

some plants won’t ever root because of gmos (some companies create sterile plants and when they’re cloned they just die off) but generally any plant you get at a garden store you can clone. 

This is called propagation!!! And it’s awesome!!!

Water propagation comes with some caution tho! While it’s a great way to watch the roots grow and ensure it’s actually propagating, it can shock the plant to remove it from water and suddenly plant it in soil. Water contain no nutrients, so to go from surviving on no nutrients to an abundance of nutrients in soil can potentially shock the wee baby.

Also, unless the water is changed out every day or every other, the oxygen in the water gets used up. Make sure to replace the water often so there’s a constant supply of oxygen.

If you have a fish tank, that is an excellent place to propagate certain plants! The nutrients the fish leave in the water will help the plant thrive, and ensure less shock when transplanting in soil. Fish might nibble on the roots, but probably not enough to cause any issues. Pothos, philodendrons, and monstera adasonii (vining Swiss cheese) are good ones to propagate this way, as they like the humidity from the tank.

Soil propagation has its own downsides, such as not being able to see if the roots are growing, but you can give the cutting a gentle tug in a few weeks, and if it resists, it has roots!!

And with ANY propagation, there is basically a 50/50 chance it will take, no matter which method you use, no matter how careful and attentive you are to technique and care. So don’t be discouraged if your cutting never roots, or dies. Not all plants can be “cloned” either of these ways, as well. Some need grafting from another plant which fruits or flowers! Some can only grow from seeds. Some cuttings need to scab over before propagation.

So if there’s a plant you really love, just Google how to propagate, and then Google some more. And instead of trying to propagate just a single cutting, try a few at a time, just in case some fail.

Happy planting!!!!!

It’s true that it’s difficult to get trees/bushes to grow roots with this method, but there is a pretty cool technique to get around this! It’s called air layering and it won’t work for ALL trees but it does work for many.

What you do instead of cutting off an entire limb and hoping it will root is you select the portion of the tree you want to be your new tree, and at the bottom of it, scrape off all of the bark, at least an inch long. Then you need to put your root hormone around the top of the shaved portion on the space where the tree still has bark. After that you’ll need to pack the area you want the roots to grow with sphagnum moss and wrap it in a plastic bag to keep the moss in place.

Once you have roots growing (could take a couple weeks) you can remove the bag, and cut the limb at the dead barkless section. Now you’ve got a new tree that’s already producing sap and as thick as the limb you’ve chosen! WAY faster than waiting the YEARS it could take to grow a tree to that size from a seed or a sprout.

Planting the new tree in sphagnum moss is a good way to help it grow lots of new roots and make sure it stays healthy before transferring it to a different soil mix or into the ground.

You also want to make sure that you leave probably a couple inches between the part of the branch you shave the bark off of and the main trunk of the tree, because after you cut off the limb, the wood beneath it will die back a bit and you don’t want part of the trunk to start rotting.

This is a good intro post!

It’s a good idea if you want to get propagating to search “[specific plant] propagation”. Every plant has a different method that works best, and there are bound to be loads of articles and videos out there of folks who have propagated that species before. Experimentation can’t hurt either.

Some plants need extra humidity or misting, some do best when trimmed a certain time of year, some grow roots when dry and some need to be wet

The “gmo plants are sterile and don’t root” thing in the OP though is complete horseshit and a misunderstanding of what GMOs are. There are only a handful of approved GMOs in the United States and they are all agricultural crops. I would assume many of them are also not sterile.

However! Many common plants you see in garden centers have either been selectively bred for less seed production because not going to seed = more flowers or they are hybrids (plant mutts) or often both! Hybrid plants CAN produce viable seed but there’s no guarantee that those seeds will “breed true” aka have the same genetics/qualities as the mother plant. If you are looking for veggie plants and see the word, “heirloom”, you know that you can save the seeds from those plants for next year.

Being sterile has NOTHING to do with producing roots or not, it’s about seed production. All sorts of fancy hybrid plants can be propagated via cutting. Fun fact though: many fancy plants are patented so propagation with intent to sell is illegal. Most plant breeders use a method of propagation called tissue culture (test tube babies but for plants) to continue the plant’s genetics into the next generation.

It’s a common misconception that any kind of hybridization or selective breeding = genetic modification, but this isn’t the case in a legal sense. There must be some kind of actual tampering with genes in a labratory, not just old-fashioned plant breeding. A few years ago actually there was a big kerfuffle because a number of fancy petunias were tested and found to have been genetically modified, not registered or labelled as such, and then sold illegally in the US and used in breeding programs. All those petunias had to be pulled and destroyed.

Kinda got off topic here but the illegal gmo petunias story is actually pretty cool. Mostly because it came out because some plant biologist dude saw some orange petunias went “huh petunias don’t come in Orange last time I checked but this reminds me of some GMO plant experiments back in the day” and he tested the plants and discovered they did indeed contain foreign DNA

Danielle Nierenberg, President of Food Tank, shares a sustainability pro-tip in honor of Earth Day. Instead of wasting leftover pasta water by pouring it down the sink, you can save it, let it cool and use it to water your plants. The starchy H2O will give them a beneficial nutrient boost and help them grow. Just be sure to avoid using cooking water that has been salted or seasoned.

This also applies to leftover water from boiling spinach, potatoes, and hardboiled eggs, according to Reader’s Digest.

yeah! this is awesome and the dude who did this is truly spectacular linnaeus also invented the binary nomenclature and just described like a thousand species just to prove how logical his system is

he may be binomial nomenclature guy to others but he’ll always be flower clock guy in my heart

Me as an Herbalist

For those of you that don’t know yet, I am on my last trimester of therapeutic clinical herbalism training. So I am a clinical herbalist and I have been doing this learning in a class setting for 4 years now. Before this degree, I received my Bachelor in Biology (another 4 years), which greatly contributed to my understanding of the micro and macro biological systems involved in the consumption of herbs. In a few months (3 months), I will have my masters of science in therapeutic herbalism with an AOC in clinical. If you don’t know what the differences in herbalist are, here is a link to my earlier post. I am also a yoga instructor, which has given me the tools to be able to provide a healing space for you to heal on multiple levels.

I am fully equipped to help you heal in the best way I know how. I want people who visit my page to know they are safe with me as a herbalist, and I am fully capable. So if you need a clinical herbalist, it would be my pleasure to help you heal you mind, body, and spirit.<3<3

How do I become one?

There are a bunch of ways. You could go to school for it or apprentice for it. There is a lot of info on the herbalist guild site

https://www.americanherbalistsguild.com/

There are a lot of great programs in a lot of places.

Herbal Remedies for Angina

Angina or angina pectoris is defined as an intermittent pain, pressing or constriction of the chest that is exacerbated by exercise and relieved by rest.

Before using herbal remedies for angina symptom relief and treatment, it is vital to seek out professional help and get a full diagnosis of angina

Medicinal herbs for angina treatment have been employed for hundreds of years with success.

Today, combinations of medicinal herbs to relieve angina symptoms will almost certainly contain hawthorn.

To learn more medicinal herbs for angina CLICK HEREhttps://www.herbal-supplement-resource.com/herbal-angina-treatment.html

Creating a Bee-Friendly Garden A Few Simple Homemade Devices Can Go a Long Way

“Have you noticed a dearth of pollinators in your garden of late? Honeybee numbers are declining due to several factors, and it’s finally starting to make headlines. The loss of bee colonies has far-reaching consequences. About one third of our crops are pollinated by bees.”

Kitchen Garden Planner

A garden is probably not in the cards for me any time soon, but I found this really awesome resource that I thought would be nice to share. It’s a kitchen garden planner. I’ve been playing around with it for a little bit and here are the different features I’ve found. 

There are two main sections: Design Your Row or Bed and Design Your Site Map. You can save your plans, print your plans, load, edit, et cetera. 

In the Design Your Row or Bed section, you can select the size of your row or bed, up to 5 sq ft x 12 sq ft. There are 64 varieties of plants, including vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers that you can choose from (though, of course, you aren’t limited to these choices in your own garden), and the neat thing is that for every plant you place in the planner, it gives you detailed planting instructions.

In the Design Your Site Map section, you can lay out the entire area that you have for planting, up to 50 sq ft. x 50 sq. feet. You can use rows or beds you’ve already designed, place pre-designed beds, and rotate beds. 

It looks like a really neat tool! 

If you ever want to attract bees and hummingbirds into your garden, let a few of your broccoli plants bolt. I seriously spent so much time tending to flowers that attract pollinators, and everyone is going nuts over the broccoli flowers instead. You can hear the sound of the masses of bees several feet before you are close enough to see them, and the hummingbirds spend all day bouncing between the broccoli, salvia and zinnias. Crazy. I will most definitely do this every year.

Recommended Reading: Plant Spirits & Herbalism Magick A Compendium of Herbal Magic - Paul Beyerl

The Complete Book of Incense, Oils and Brews - Scott Cunningham

Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs - Scott Cunningham

A Druid’s Herbal for the Sacred Earth Year - Ellen Evert Hopman

A Druid’s Herbal of Sacred Tree Medicine - Ellen Evert Hopman

Garden Witchery: Magick from the Ground Up - Ellen Dugan

Garden Witch’s Herbal: Green Magick, Herbalism & Spirituality - Ellen Dugan

The Green Wiccan Herbal: 52 Magical Herbs, Spells, Witchy Rituals - Silja

The Green Witch Herbal: Restoring Nature’s Magic in Home, Health, and Beauty Care - Barbara Griggs

Grimoire of the Thorn-Blooded Witch: Mastering the Five Arts of Old World Witchery - Raven Grimassi

Herbal Alchemist’s Handbook, The: A Grimoire of Philtres. Elixirs, Oils, Incense, and Formulas for Ritual Use - Karen Harrison

Herb Magic for Beginners - Ellen Dugan

Incense Magick: Create Inspiring Aromatic Experiences for Your Craft - Carl F. Neal

Kitchen Witchery: A Compendium of Oils, Unguents, Incense, Tinctures, and Comestibles - Marilyn F. Daniel

Magical Aromatherapy: The Power of Scent - Scott Cunningham

Magical Herbalism: The Secret Craft of the Wise - Scott Cunningham

The Magic of Flowers: A Guide to Their Metaphysical Uses & Properties - Tess Whitehurst

The Master Book of Herbalism - Paul Beyerl

Mixing Essential Oils for Magic: Aromatic Alchemy for Personal Blends - Sandra Kynes

Old World Witchcraft: Ancient Ways for Modern Days - Raven Grimassi

Papa Jim’s Herbal Magic Workbook - Papa Jim

Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm: Beyond the Doors of Perception into the Dreaming of Earth - Stephen Harrod Buhner

The Plant Spirit Familiar - Christopher Penczak

Plant Spirit Healing: A Guide to Working with Plant Consciousness - Pam Montgomery

Plant Spirit Medicine: A Journey into the Healing Wisdom of Plants - Eliot Cowan

Plant Spirit Shamanism: Traditional Techniques for Healing the Soul - Ross Haven

Sacred Plant Medicine: The Wisdom in Native American Herbalism - Stephen Harrod Buhner

The Secret Teachings of Plants: The Intelligence of the Heart in the Direct Perception of Nature - Stephen Harrod Buhner

Scottish Herbs and Fairy Lore - Ellen Evert Hopman

Walking the World in Wonder: A Children’s Herbal - Ellen Evert Hopman

The Weiser Concise Guide to Herbal Magick - Judith Hawkins-Tillirson

Wicca Herbs: Herbalism: A Complete Reference Guide to Frequently used Magickal Herbs, and Spices: Herbs for the Solo Wiccan Practitioner - Kristina Benson

Wylundt’s Book of Incense - Wylundt

Image Credit: Unknown

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