Cottage Witchery (24 page)

a maple leaf spell for happiness

Take the maple leaves outside on your deck, patio, or in the backyard on a nice breezy day. Since the element of air is associated with the maple, let's link all this natural magick together. Hold the leaves in the palms of your hands and charge them with your intentions. When a breeze comes along, open your hands and allow the leaves to scatter in the wind. Then say the following verse:

I scatter the maple leaves to the four winds,

Bring harmony to my home that never ends.

Send happiness to us by the powers of air,

Bless my home, hearth, and family, with love to spare.

Allow the leaves to stay where they are, take a deep breath, and turn to face the breeze. While you're out there, ask the element of air to cleanse you of any sadness or negativity you may be holding on to. When you feel finished, sink to the ground for a moment and center yourself. Now stand up, brush off your hands, and go about the rest of your day with a smile.

yarrow, the wise woman's flowering herb

The yarrow is traditionally associated with wise women, cunning men, and the Craft. This all-purpose flowering herb is a favorite of mine. A perennial, it is easy to grow in sunny, cottage-style gardens. It dries beautifully and is a great magickal flowering herb to have on hand for all sorts of cottage witchery arts and crafts projects, spells, and charms.

The planetary influence for yarrow is Venus, and it is aligned with the element of water. However, its uses are so vast and varied that even if you aren't able to grow your own plants, I would pick up some dried yarrow at an herb shop, magick shop, or at the arts and crafts store to have on hand. Some of yarrow's many uses include promoting harmony between a married couple, encouraging love, increasing psychic abilities, and protection.

If you are looking for a cottage-witchery-style project for your home, or one that makes a great gift for a handfasting or to bless a friend's new home, I've got one for you.

an enchanted herbal broom
for hearth and home

Supplies:

* A small or large decorative broom

* Dried or fresh yellow yarrow (several stems)

* A sprig or two of rosemary (promotes love and good memories)

* Three yards of coordinating ribbons for color magick, or to match the room's décor

* Hot glue gun and sticks

* 22-gauge florist wire or pipe cleaners

* Various charms, ribbons, or a star garland—whatever you can conjure up to make the broom look magickal

Cluster together a little arrangement of the yarrow and the rosemary. Wire them securely together. Now wire the little herbal posy onto the base of the broom handle so that the flowers and foliage rest on the straws or sticks of the broom. (You may wish to glue them down if you're worried about them moving around on you.) Hide the wires with decorative ribbons tied into a bow or wrapped criss-cross style up to the top of the broom's handle. Secure the ribbon with hot glue, if necessary.

Embellish the broom with charms tied onto the ribbons, a decorative bow, or even a glittery star garland if you prefer. Once you have your broom decorated to your liking, enchant it to bring love, harmony, and happiness into the home with the following verse. When you are finished, you can give the broom as a gift or hang it up in a place of honor by your fireplace or hearthstone.

A clever Witch's spell I make for happiness and love,

This broom sweeps away all sadness from below and above.

Yarrow does bring affection, rosemary for memories,

A blessing for your hearth and home, and bound by three times three.

This broom may be used as a symbolic tool or you could use it to sweep any negativity lingering in the home right out of the door.

He is happiest, be he king or peasant,
who finds peace in his home.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Bibs, Bobs, and Whatnots

There are all sorts of accessories and whatnots around your home that may be used to promote harmony and happiness. Take a new look around your home with a Witch's eyes and see what you can find.

Take, for example, the bathroom; what do you think you could possibly find in there? Well, you can work healing rituals in the bathtub. Fill up that tub with comfortably hot water and toss in a tablespoon of sea salt, dried lavender, or bubble bath. Light some scented candles and lock the door. Allow yourself to be refreshed and restored by the healing powers of water.

the captivating commode spell

One of the funniest things I've ever heard of was using toilet paper in a spell. Write down the problem or name of the person who is causing the problem on the paper, and then flush it down the toilet. It makes you laugh and it helps break the anger or hurt feelings you are carrying around.

Give it a try—fetch some toilet paper from the bathroom. Get a pen and carefully write your problem down on the paper. Then drop it in the toilet bowl and try this silly charm as you flush. There is something so ridiculous and satisfying about watching that paper get sucked down the toilet. If you can do it with a straight face, I'll be very surprised—remember that sometimes laughter is the strongest magick anyone could ever hope to tap into!

I cannot believe that I worried this much,

You're out of my life with the sound of this flush.

Now that we've had a good chuckle, let's think about more magickal accessories found around the house.

fruit bowl blessing

For this spell we are heading back to the kitchen. The supplies are simple for this blessing: you'll need a large bowl and some fresh fruit. The fruit itself does have magickal significance, so choose your items carefully. What you want to do is choose a fruit for each magickal quality that you'd like to bring in to your home. Here is a Witch's dozen of easy-to-find magickal fruits. Oh, and here's food for thought . . . you could try adding some of the magickally associated fresh fruit into other spells and charms that were listed throughout this book.

apple:
wisdom and prophecy

banana:
fertility and passion (well, just think about it . . . )

blueberry:
psychic protection

cherry:
love

grapes:
prosperity and fertility

lemon:
cleansing, hex-breaking

lime:
promotes good health and security

orange:
healing and sunshine

pear:
lust and love, also justice

plum:
fruitfulness and abundance

pomegranate:
wishes granted, fertility, protection

raspberry:
fertility and pregnancy

strawberry:
passion, motherhood, and safe pregnancy

Arrange the chosen fruit into the bowl and then place a white all-purpose candle off to the side. (A little tealight in a holder would be ideal for this spell.) Enchant the fruit, so all of the various magickal properties go swirling out into your home and happily into the folks who snack on them. After you're done working this spell, eat some of the fruit yourself.

To work this spell, light the candle and then hold your hands over the fresh fruit. Empower the fruit bowl with the following charm:

I bless this fresh fruit for health and for a loving spell,

Grant your powers to my family that's loved so well.

This candle stands for the homey charm I have spun,

For the happiness of all, and let it harm none.

Allow the candle to burn out. Leave the fruit on the counter or table for healthy snacks.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Familiar Saying

practical family photograph magick

Family photos are good props to work with. You can encircle them with salt to break negativity, or a photo can be tucked under a candleholder to help focus the spell on the individual—this would be a great link in a healing spell. Having a squabble with a relative? Try placing their photo inside of a shallow bowl and cover the picture with sugar to help end hard feelings and to allow peace and healing to begin. If a picture is worth a thousand words, there must be at least a thousand or so ways to work affirmative magick with a photograph.

In a few of the spells in this book, photos were used as props. Experiment with this for yourself; see what sort of personalized magick you can create. Yeah, I'm being tough this time. Now is when you get to write your own charms. Take a look at chapter 3 and chapter 8—there are two spell worksheets there for you. Make copies and start working on your own witchy ideas for hearth and home. You can do it. Making magick individual and working in your own personality and style is what makes spellcasting powerful.

[contents]

Shut the door, not that it lets in the cold
but that it lets out the coziness.

Mark Twain

Closing Thoughts

As we close up this cozy book on the natural magick of hearth and home, I hope that you've enjoyed yourself. I am so glad that you decided to spend some time with me. Now that you've worked your way through this book of cottage witchery, I'll bet that you will never look at your home the same way again. As we've come to see, magick is everywhere.

It requires heart and determination to create a better life and home for yourself and your loved ones. Take the ideas and spells that were presented here and make them uniquely your own. Get to know the deities of the hearth; start to work with the house faeries. Create your own little hearthstone setup and ask for the blessings of the goddesses Brigid, Vesta, and Hestia. They are waiting for you—call on them and see what you discover.

Take a look at the household journal that is provided in the back of this book. There are even more spells and charms tucked in there for you. This is the perfect opportunity to personalize the various magick that is included in this book. You could easily use this journal space as your own private magickal notebook for hearth and home. Go ahead, list the spices you have in your kitchen cupboard and start plotting how you will incorporate them into homemade enchantments. Experiment and work with the energy of the four elements to improve the quality of your life and the atmosphere of wherever you call home.

Cottage witchery is my way of encouraging you to bring both the beauty and the charm of nature into your home with simple enchantments and down-to-earth magick. Now add all these new witchy skills that you've learned to your magickal repertoire every day, in both simple and profound ways. They are sure to bring a natural wonder to your life.

Remember: home is where the heart is, as they say. I have always maintained that the strongest and truest magick does indeed come from the heart.

From my hearth to yours, this homey magick was spun,

Trust in your own power and the charm is begun.

Look inside yourself, for the true magick is there,

All you have to do is to know, to will, and to dare.

[contents]