Last week before my ritual group’s Yule celebration, my apprentice and her boyfriend as well as my two witchy neighbours came over on Friday and helped me make magical waters and healing balms. Since my past few posts about my healing remedies have been more promotional than educational, I thought I’d make this post about my new magical goodies an informational one. We crafted a blessing water, cherry blossom water, four thieves vinegar, and indigo water. Find out below what they are and how they can be used in magic and spiritual cleansing.
Spiritual Cleansing is a practice not restricted by culture, because so many cultures share belief in the evil eye. The concept behind the eyil eye is that our environment, the people around us, and our own attitudes can affect us negatively both emotionally and spiritually – draining us of energy, luck, health, confidence, self-esteem, happiness, and faith – everything that makes life wonderful. And if you do not cleanse yourself everything you see and do every day that affects you negatively will build up inside you. Sounds a bit new agey until you think about it; do you have to be around people every day who make you feel anxious and stressed? Do you take public transit? How many people are on the same bus every day that you come into contact with, how crowded is it, are people rude or shoving all the time? How crowded was the mall for Christmas shopping? Was it stressful? Has it been a hard year? Anyone passed on? Divorce? Family fights? Did you do anything to relieve the stress from any of these experiences you’ve had? From any of the feelings and emotions others are putting into you?
To reverse and prevent this spiritual cleansing is practiced. Spiritual cleansing is an act of folk medicine and magic that can involve bathing, smudging or burning incense, or anointing/sprinkling. Bathing involves making a warm bath and adding either spring water or sea water and a magical water like some of the ones written about below. The bather then submerges themselves completely in the water while praying, chanting, or being full of intention – the submersion is usually repeated in sets of sacred numbers – 3, 7, 9 – the bath can be repeated for days as well for a more lasting effect on the bather. Sweat lodges are another example of spiritual cleansing with water, this time steam is used and for those who aren’t ill, a dip in a cool lake or river right after.e
To smudge a person with herbs or incense, light the smudge stick or add a loose purifying and cleansing incense (uncrossing in Hoodoo) and fan the smoke around the body of the person to be cleansed with your hand, a feather, or a smudge fan. Another method is to wrap a sheet around the person to be cleansed while they are sitting in a chair and allow the smoke to blow up under the sheet to smudge their entire body for so many minutes. Sprinkling waters or oils is also practiced to spiritually cleanse a person. Uplifting scents with purifying herbs, oils, and resins are usually used. This comes from an ancient practice of blessing by dipping branches of sacred herbs or trees in spring water and flicking it at people or a home to bless them and also from the practice of flicking blood from an animal sacrifice at the ritual participants to purify and bless them. My blessing water is a much sweeter smelling alternative to that ancient practice!
Blessing Water
This Blessing Water is handcrafted using the original Florida Water recipe from the late 19th century which is still used commonly today in folk magic as a water sprinkle or spray for rituals of house cleansing, protection, and blessing. It also chases away harmful spirits and energies and attracts benevolent ones and positive energies. The main action of this Blessing Water is cleansing and purification reflected in it’s lemon and clove scent. As this water is handcrafted there are more oils and herbs used than in the commercial recipes resulting in a rich lush scent you’ll be tempted to use as your everyday perfume instead of magic!
Use to purify new charms, amulets, magical jewelry, ritual tools, divination tools or tarot decks, altar cloths or statuary, etc of past influences and energy. It can also be added to spiritual cleansing baths for those who need to be cleansed of negativity or stress from the outside world. Blessing water is also traditionally used to wash the floors and walls of a home to spiritually cleanse a house or apartment and leave a happy blessed atmosphere. One last use of Blessing Water includes using it to clean up after spell work or supply crafting. Ever wondered how to clean up that hot foot powder dust without it affecting you? Try using Blessing Water to cleanse both your counter, your mixing tools (bowl, spoons, mortar and pestle, etc), and your hands. It is available in 1 and 8 fl.oz sizes.
Cherry Blossom Water
Cherry blossom water is used for spiritual cleansing in folk magic for those in need of self-discipline and self-esteem. I have also added rosemary to this blend making it perfect for students to use, especially for lectures and during exam crunch time! It is also good for those dealing with self-worth issues and depression. To use Cherry Blossom Water, it can be added to a bath, a shower gel if you are not a bath person, to anoint the head of the person in need, or added to household cleaning products to give an entire room or house a boost of happy “get things done” energy.
This spiritual cleansing water contains Cherry Blossom petals to increase self-discipline and self-esteem as well as increase your feelings of compassion and kindness for others and yourself; Rosemary leaves and oil for memory, mental clarity and focus; Oils of Lemon and Bergamot to awake the mind and keep it active; and lastly, each bottle contains a Moss Agate stone to help with self-esteem and depression, and a Rose Quartz stone to bring happiness and kindness into your life. Also available in 1 and 8 fl.oz sizes just like the Blessing Water.
Four Thieves Vinegar
An old recipe of curious origins; four thieves in 1600s France during the times of the Black Plague are supposed to have created this recipe and both rubbed it on their skin and drank it every day during the time when the disease was prevalent. They robbed many houses and never contracted the plague –many believe thanks to this formula. Since then, it has been adopted into use by folk magic practitioners and witches for protection for health as well as from magical and psychic attack. Vinegar is used in folk magic for protection, to sour someone’s disposition to you or another person, or to start quarrels between two people or a group. It can also be used in spells, charms, or amulets to strengthen the magician and weaken their enemies.
Four Thieves Vinegar can be put to use by anointing spell candles, filling witch bottles, dabbed onto sachet bags, or mixed in with magical potions. This particular recipe can be ingested and actually makes a nice salad dressing; take 1 Tbsp a day as a health tonic. It is available in the Botanica in an 8 fl.oz (250 ml) size, in lovely glass bottle properly corked and sealed with red wax.
Indigo Water
This is something very special and rare I’ve been wanting to make for a while now. As the daughter, granddaughter, and great granddaughter of seamstresses, there is a special place in my heart for genuine indigo and all the history and spirituality behind it. Indigo plants have been used to dye sacred cloth and ritual objects for over 4,000 years. Indocin is extracted from the plants and allowed to ferment until it produces the rare and rich ancient blue. It was believed by ancient cultures that the exact colour of Indigo is in harmony with the spirit realms and this is why it was used to dye so many ritual items from altar cloths to bridal veils. Indigo technically isn’t on the colour spectrum – it is in between, a threshold – the very place and essence of magic.
Indigo Water is used for spiritual cleansing in folk magic, but unlike other waters which are used to effect our lives and emotions on this plane, Indigo Water is used to bring you, others, or objects in tune with the celestial realm of the Gods and also the Universe. Everything in the Universe is connected and in harmony – the ancient Norse called this connection the Web of Wyrd – the Buddhists call it Indra’s Net. Whatever you believe, by bathing in or anointing yourself with Indigo Water you are strengthening your astral body – your soul – for travel or communion with the spirits, gods, or other realms. Indigo Water can also be used to heal those with a weak life-force from illness, depression, or soul-loss by strengthening the soul, realigning energies, and increasing life-force.
To use Indigo Water it can be added to ritual baths wherein the bather must submerge themselves in the water at least three times; it can be used to anoint charms, prayer beads, amulets, or statuary to bless and consecrate as well as to make them in tune with the spirit realms their magic and power draw from; it can also be left on a practitioner’s altar mixed with sea water as an ancient offering – but once left must be constantly continued and refilled whenever it evaporates – this is a good daily offering practice for devotees of water/sea gods or goddesses. Before deciding to leave such an offering, just remember that most sea deities are also gods of the Underworld.
