The Real Witches’ Kitchen: Spells, recipes, oils, lotions and potions from the Witches’ Hearth. Kate West

For most people, a night out is preceded by a ritual of washing the body and hair, and often applying scents to set the mood. Whilst doing so they think about where they are going, what they will be doing and what they hope will happen. It is no different in the Craft; wherever possible we wash our bodies, or at least our hands, to remove not only the dirt of the day, but also the negative thoughts and feelings of day-to-day life. At the same time we also prepare our minds by thinking through what we are about to do and what we wish to achieve. Of course, this can be done with plain soaps and bathing products, but it can be greatly enhanced by the use of products which we have created, altered and Magically empowered. Here I am going to take a look at ways of creating or, more often, changing existing products to Magically enhance them.

      Whilst it is possible to make soaps, bath foams, shampoos and anointing oils from first principles, it is not really practical for everyone. As a result I am going to talk mainly about how we can take existing products and change them for our purposes.

      

      The use of such enhanced products does not have to be limited to preparation for ritual. Keeping a bar of healing or refreshing soap in the bathroom can help us through daily life. Preparing a bath foam to help encourage sleep can be invaluable for the parent of a young child who refuses to ‘go down’ at night. So, many of the following will not be set aside for Craft work, but will have a place in daily life.

       Abbreviations

      lb

pound

      oz

ounce

      fl oz

fluid ounce

      tbsp

tablespoonful

      (note this is not the same as a serving spoon), should be around 15 fl oz tsp teaspoonful, around ¹/₄ fl oz

       Soaps

      The basic ingredients for soap are in fact quite caustic, so it is not only easier but also more user-friendly to rework ready-made soap. The best kind to choose is a pure, unscented castille soap, although you can use this method with other kinds of unscented soaps.

      

      First cut up (or grate) about 4 oz (1 cup) of the soap and place in a heatproof non-metallic container.

      

Add about ¹/₄ cup (2 fl oz) of hot water and 1 tbsp of almond or apricot oil.

      

Leave until cool enough to handle and then mix in with your hands. If the soap is floating on the water you will need to add more soap.

      

Leave for about ten minutes, mixing occasionally, by which time the soap should be soft and mushy. If it is not, place the bowl into a saucepan of boiling water and heat gently.

      

When the soap, water and oil are completely blended, add any dry ingredients.

      

When the mixture is cool, add any essential oils. It is important that the mixture be cool as essential oils evaporate quickly in heat. Note that essential oils should be added until they overcome the original odour of the soap, so how much will depend on the type of soap and oil you use.

      

Blend really thoroughly and divide the mixture into four to six pieces, depending on the size of the soaps you finally require.

      

Now squeeze these soaps, removing as much excess water as possible, into the shape you require – balls, ovals or whatever – and tie in cheesecloth.

      

Hang in a warm dry place until completely hard.

      The soaps can then be used or wrapped in cheesecloth and kept or given away. As an aside, ordinary soap will always last longer if you take it out of its wrapper and keep it in a warm dry place to get completely hard before use.

      

      All the following recipes are based on the above quantity of soap. As people relate to different scents in different ways, these can be adjusted according to your own preferences. Additionally, you can adapt any of the following to a plain unscented liquid soap, but do be aware that liquid soaps are usually detergent-based and hence not really very good for the skin. Where it says ‘oil’ in the following recipes I refer to essential oil, except in the case of the coconut oil in the dry skin recipe. When using herbs or other dried ingredients, make sure that you remove the really hard woody bits to make the soap pleasant to use. If you do not like textured or ‘gritty’ soap, then substitute drops of the appropriate oils.

      

      It is worth noting that when using soap you should always lather it in your hands and then wash the rest of yourself with the lather. It is not a good idea to rub any soap directly onto other areas of the skin as it can be too harsh and drying.

      Mental and Physical Cleansing

      This is excellent for use before any ritual, or indeed any time when you need to mark the division between one part of your day and another, for example the transition from your work self to your home self.

       1 tbsp lavender flowers

       6 drops frankincense oil

       6 drops sandalwood oil

       4 drops jasmine oil

      Esbat Soap

      This takes the cleansing recipe a step further in that it is designed to prepare you for the working element of ritual and Magic, when you will need the additional ability to focus and control.

       1 tbsp rosemary leaves

       1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

       6 drops frankincense oil

       6 drops sandalwood oil

       4 drops jasmine oil

       4 drops oil of orange

       (you can literally scrape the oil from the outside of an orange using a blunt knife)

      Sabbat Soap

      The Sabbats are less a time of working and more a time of celebration, hence a different blend. Of course you could make different soaps for different Sabbats, altering the ingredients to match the key points of the festival and the season, in which case you might wish to make a smaller quantity of soap and use it on a daily basis for the seven days prior to the Sabbat, in preparation for it.

       1 tbsp rosemary leaves

       1/2 tbsp jasmine flowers

       6 drops sandalwood