Wait, don’t hate dandelions, turn them into wine!

Make sure the area has been pesticide/herbicide free for a year before you start picking.

Lavender Wine

2-3 cups fresh Lavender Blossoms 2/3 cups Sugar 1/2 Lemon, thinly sliced 1 quart Vodka Cut the leaves and stems off of Lavender flowers and place the unwashed blossoms in a jar. Add the remaining ingredients, stir and cap. Shake the mixture daily and let cure for 2 weeks. Strain and serve over crushed ice in 1 oz. servings.

Peach and Almond Liqueur for Wisdom and Prosperity

This is a liqueur I made several times since I ended up with so many peaches over the summer. It helps that it tastes wonderful and the strong fruity flavors cover up almost any alcoholic burn. I know it’s not summer anymore, but that doesn’t take anything away from this drink that goes well with just about anything.

This liqueur might make a great addition to a money spell since the correspondences of the peaches and almond flavor work in that direction. As with anything involving alcohol, this recipe is intended for those of legal drinking age.

What you will need:

1 fifth (750mL) of vodka

5 Peaches chopped up

1/8th teaspoon of almond extract

1 cup of Simple Syrup

Combine the chopped peaches and vodka in a large jar. When chopping the peaches activate the properties you would wish to call upon. I would suggest for this focusing on protection and wisdom. Seal the jar and store in a dark cabinet for about 7 days. By then the vodka should smell strongly of peaches and it should be a nice pink-ish color. Strain out the peaches, add the simple syrup and almond extract, focusing on prosperity and wisdom. Mix everything and focus your intent as you stir clockwise. An idea I had for this, combining all the properties, was to wish for this liqueur to grant me wisdom in money matters. The almond can bring prosperity and the peach can help protect it.

Vanilla Lavender Liqueur for Peace and Romance

The first liquor recipe is the most recent one I’ve made and the one that made me think that these would be great for magick. I love alcohol and I love tasty things, so making liqueurs is becoming a bit of a hobby of mine. Plus they make great little gifts for all of your boozy friends which is nice since I can’t just drink all of this by myself.

So anyway this first one is made by infusing gin with three simple ingredients: Lavender, vanilla, and honey. While most liqueur recipes call for simple syrup, this one does not since the honey does the work.

I generally believe that when doing magick you either want to use herbs/stones/whatever with similar uses/correspondences or one with correspondences that bring together different aspects you want to be in the spell. I try to avoid just using every correspondence something has since that tends to leave me feeling unfocused. For example, lavender has many different correspondences from mental clarity to love as well as more spiritually based ones like divination. When you make this you can use what ever correspondences you want but if you want to make recipes based on the correspondence you are looking for then I most recommend this one for issues relating to peace and romantic love.

Recipe after the cut

Keep reading

FIRST, gather your herbs.

Consider starting with something gentle that will be nice to learn with. Some of my first tinctures were skullcap and lemon balm. These herbs aid in stress and are usually effective if taken multiple times daily over time. I find that trustworthy plants like these are great doorways into herbalism. 

The best place to gather herbs from would be your own garden. If this is not possible be sure to find a trustworthy local herb shop or a bigger buyer like Mountain Rose who sells organic. It is best to tincture most herbs fresh, but dry works well too.

*** If the herbs are coming straight out of the garden you can gently wash the aerial parts, and definitely scrub the roots clean of any dirt residue.  

THEN, chop and macerate.

Chop up the herb or root as small as possible. Once you think it is small enough, go smaller. The more surface area that is exposed during the maceration process, the stronger the medicine can be! For roots, dried herbs, and larger projects I will use a Vitamix. If you often have a small amount that can be easily ground, you may want to consider getting a coffee grinder to reserve for all your herbal endeavors. 

Now you are ready to macerate, which basically means to let the plant sit in alcohol for a few weeks. This process pulls out all the healing constituents that make tinctures therapeutic! 

For your menstrum (or solvent) you will need to use some sort of alcohol. Some people like to use glycerites which are sweeter, or apple cider vinegar. Traditionally brandy or some form of alcohol like vodka was used. When I do the standard method, which is a bit more complicated, I use grain alcohol that is nearly 100%!

Fill a jar all the way to the top with your herbs. Cover it with your brandy or alcohol of choice. Let the herbs macerate for one full lunar cycle. Starting medicines on the full moon can be quite magical! Label your jar with the ingredients and date, and store in indirect light. Shake the maceration daily with good intentions.  

***Remember that you are powerful and the energy that you put forth and the intentions that you set will come through in the medicine.

FINALLY, strain and enjoy!

After a month (or longer) has passed, strain out your herbs with the muslin cloth. Squeeze out any remaining liquid that might be living in the herb. Compost the finished herb which is also known as mark. Pour the now tincture back into jar or into a dosage bottle with a custom label. You have now made your very first folk tincture!

Now you can make medicine from all the beautiful plants that grow around you. You will begin to discover that most of what you need is pretty close by. The St. John’s Wort on the highway, the kudzu on the pine trees, the wild oats dancing in the pasture, the dandelion in your lawn, all the plants are here waiting for you! 

With love and healing light,

Summer Ashley

Get your herbal homebrew on with my newest recipe - http://ift.tt/2aA8hUV

#dohomebrew #pixiespocket #homebrew #countrywine #herbalwine #brewing #winebrewing #recipe #howto #herbalism #herbs #holistic #booze http://ift.tt/2aMiLnN

How to make an amazing witchy drink for devotional or just a self-happiness charm. 

Then simply pour and enjoy! Cool, refreshing, sweet modern witchcraft for springtime/early summer.

ELDERFLOWER LEMONADE COCKTAIL

Ghost

Impressive browser-based interactive music video for track by @wyfyby featuring Vince Staples, was put together by @vincemckelvie and tig.ht - a first person narrative with effects that are generated in browser in real time:

Try the interactive version out here