Supermarket Magic: Creating Spells, Brews, Potions and Powders From Everyday Ingredients (6 page)

centering. It is also a good time for introspection, reflection and meditation; any task involving turning inward.

This can be a dangerous time since we are a bit more open

and vulnerable to the energies around us. This is the time in the lunar cycle that some foolishly work dark magic

against others regardless of consequence. Since we are of

a magical mindset and therefore, more open than most

people; I would suggest the wearing of protective amulets

at this time to ensure that others’ negativity does not find its way to you. Also, I would like to add a warning that

when working magic to rid oneself of obstacles or block-

ages; be specific. If you are too general and cast a spell to remove all your obstacles, things may leave your life that you would rather keep (jobs, friends, a spouse, etc.) and

while these changes may be for your ultimate betterment,

you may not wish for them to occur so quickly, all at once and without warning. As a rule of thumb; when working

magic to gain something, be general and when working

magic to remove something, be specific.

Aside from any of these magical “rules” the basic ethic

that has been more or less followed is: do what you want as long as it does not hurt yourself or anyone else. Many will recognize this as the Wiccan Rede: An it harm none, do

as you will. As long as we remember to not allow ourselves to be harmed by others, I feel that this is a fine magical guideline.

Section 3

SuPErMarkEt

SPEll Book

We now come to the meat and potatoes of this book.

My impetus for writing this book was that there

needs to be a practical working manual for modern magic

that does not contain the hard to find, exotic ingredients that are quite unavailable or surprisingly expensive for most of us. Given the vast amount of herbs, spices, oils, vinegars, and foods that are readily accessible to us, I felt that it was time to thoroughly tap into it. I feel that it is necessary to state that although there will be foods (and some food recipes) listed in this section; this is not a cook book.

It will be primarily focused on magical ingredients

with recipes for oils, vinegars, potions, etc. and of course, spells in which to use them. I’ve divided the spell book

into sections based on magical desire and since herbs are

versatile; you may see the same ingredient listed in more

than one section. To help avoid confusion, I have in-

cluded an herbal index at the back of the book with every

ingredient from each section listed in alphabetical order.

Before we get to the individual spells and recipes, I

would like to go through the steps involved in the making

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56 Section 3

of the oils, potions, powders, vinegars, etc. First, let’s look at the making of magical oils.

Preparing Magical Oils

To begin, gather your herbal ingredients, a pot, and the

chosen oil together along with a spoon, a strainer and a

bottle for the completed mixture. Break up the herbs with

your fingers and hold each individual herb in your hands

and make clear your intention for the overall oil that

you are making. This will charge the herb in your hands;

readying it for the oil. Do this with each herb. Hold it in your hand, focus on your intent (love, luck, money, etc … ) and then sprinkle that herb into the pot. When all the

herbs are in the pot, pour the proper amount of the oil

(amounts are given in each recipe) over them and swirl

the pot to blend the mixture. Next, warm the oil over

VERY low heat; stirring slowly but constantly until you

can smell the scent of the herbs in the air. This will let you know that the essential properties of the herbs have been

transferred to the oil. Now, remove the oil from heat and

allow it to cool. When it has cooled, strain the oil into

a jar and then charge the completed mixture using the

Charging Ritual given earlier on page TK.

The same general procedure should be followed for

all of the oil blends found within this book. It is a simple and enjoyable process, but if you live with people that are not magically minded; since these blends are made from

edible ingredients from the supermarket, you can always

Supermarket Spell Book 57

say that you are experimenting with making your own

flavored cooking oils. Note that that ONLY works with

the oils presented in this book as I have written them; no modifications should be made and you still have to worry

about food allergies if you choose to consume ANY of

the formulas in this or any book. I wouldn’t recommend

consuming magical oils anyway as a general rule since;

aside from any inherent danger, these recipes are not de-

signed for taste, they are designed for magical energy (so, they may taste really gross depending on ingredients).

Preparing Potions

This is an incredibly easy process and you may even use

a coffee maker to make these if you desire. All you have

to do is hold the individual herbs (or the tea bag) in your hands and charge them as stated previously in the “preparing oils” instructions then, put them in either a pot (a cauldron is ideal) or in a coffee filter and pop it into your coffee maker. Next, pour in the necessary amount of water

and simmer over low heat (or turn on the coffee maker)

for about ten minutes until bubbles form at the bottom

of the pot (or until the coffee maker is finished brewing) and steam is rising, but do not let the water boil!!! Boiling the water is only necessary or desired is the case of

extracting the essence from tough roots and will not be

used in the recipes presented here. To boil these potions

would damage the essences that we are trying to extract

and use. Anyway, after (about) ten minutes remove the

58 Section 3

potion from heat (or turn off the coffeemaker), cover and

allow to cool for about another ten to fifteen minutes.

When cooled, strain and sweeten if desired. The potion is

then ready to use.

Preparing Powders

This is the easiest task of them all. All you have to do is grind and charge each individual herb with your hands

and then place them in a small bowl with the required

amount of cornstarch. When all the herbs have been

added, mix them together with your fingers then, charge

the completed powder and bottle for use.

Preparing Vinegars

This is basically the same process as making a potion with two VERY IMPORTANT exceptions: 1—do not use

your coffee maker and 2—don’t use an iron pot or caul-

dron (it would rust)! You only need to heat up the herb/

vinegar mixture for about five minutes then, cool, strain, bottle and charge. I warn you though; making vinegars

is not the sweetest smelling process. You can also go the

longer route of just bottling the chosen herbs and vinegar without heating it and allow it to sit for about a week to extract the essences of the herbs. This is a less involved process and produces a good result. It just takes longer.

Now that we’ve covered the basics let’s move on to

the fun stuff. Each of the following chapters will be self-contained for their given purpose; containing all of the

Supermarket Spell Book 59

ingredients, recipes, and spells for its magical goal. Magic is such a personal and versatile process that we often develop our own individual “specialties” such as using oils, candle magic, or charm making to the exclusion of most

other ways of working.

My personal preference is to use candle magic as a

first resort as it is the most natural for me and then to

expand outward and supplement that work with other

methods only if needed; to each their own. You may find

that some practices are more effective for you than others due to the personal nature of this work and trial and error is the only way to discover this. Most of us however, find that we can shift from one way to another with a similar

success rate, we just prefer one or two methods over the

rest. No judgments or guilt should be made about this;

instead, our individuality should be celebrated!

Since it is very true that if your life and home are

too cluttered, nothing else can get done very well; I have chosen to begin with the chapter on clearing.

cleansing)

this chapter shall focus on magically clearing both

life and home of negativity and strife. All too often

are we subject to the turmoil generated by the negativity

of other people that we have little choice but to come into contact; coworkers, relatives, landlords, etc. We may not

be able to cast them out of our lives (actually we could,

but we might not want to, especially with relatives) but

we can do the next best thing; cast out their negativity

and replace it with calm, relaxing, clear energy.

Before we get to the magical means of removing

negativity, let’s go over the basic nature of energy (both positive and negative) and how it is transformed. It is

said that energy cannot be created nor destroyed; it only

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62 Chapter 4

changes form. This is understood in both the scientific

and spiritual communities. Magically speaking, we have

the ability to summon, focus, “program”, project, and/or

banish (send away) energy, but no one has the ability to

destroy it. Energy is timeless and eternal.

Since we can “program” or “color” energy, either pur-

posely with our intent or accidentally through strong

blasts of emotion, we have the ability to extract that “coloring” from the energy though we cannot (nor should we

want to) destroy the energy itself. This is how we remove

negativity; we consciously focus our intent to transform

the energy in the area from negative to positive. This ac-

tion, in actuality, extracts the negative color of the energy and replaces it with positivity through the projection of

our will. This is the basic truth behind any method of en-

ergy work; the energy itself is a constant, the intent it carries is all that has changed. Thus, I use the term negativity as opposed to “negative energy” since we aren’t removing

the energy just the negative programming it carries.

Don’t get me wrong; we can send the energy itself

away if we choose to, but I personally feel that it is far more responsible (in most cases) to strip it of its vibe (coloring, charge, intent, program; so many words that mean

the same thing) and reprogram it rather than cast it away

as is; filled with negativity only to land somewhere else

and create turmoil wherever it winds up. Remember: for

the good of all and with harm to none!

Clearning and Cleansing 63

There are several different methods to magically clear

a space of negativity that you can perform using only in-

gredients from a supermarket. You can sprinkle powders,

use floor washes, anoint with magical oils, burn candles,

and even make magical charms that will absorb the nega-

tivity from the energy. We will examine all of these meth-

ods. First, I will give the recipes and then, I will follow with the spells. All of these clearing and cleansing spells are best performed during the time of the waning moon.

Brews

There are many things we can brew together in order to

cleanse and drive away negativity; some can be drunk but,

others cannot and I will definitely note which is which.

The brews that are created with the intention of drink-

ing them are known as potions and will be listed as such

in this book. The first magical brew I will present is the famous Four Thieves’ Vinegar whose origins can be traced

back to the Middle Ages. This vinegar is used for a vari-

ety of purposes from driving away illness to banishing (or even cursing) other people. There are many recipe variations; some including inedible ingredients such as worm-

wood, but this is my favorite recipe and it contains only

easily found and edible ingredients.

Four Thieves’ Vinegar

• 2 cups apple cider vinegar

• 9 cloves of garlic

64 Chapter 4

• 1 tablespoon black pepper

• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

• 1 tablespoon sage

• 1 tablespoon thyme

Prepare the vinegar by dicing the garlic and adding

it and the herbs into your vinegar. Warm it in a pot (ide-

ally, a glass or enamel pot; no cast iron! ) according to the basic directions given at the beginning of Section 3 and

then, cool and bottle for four days; keeping it in a cool, dark place. On the fourth day, strain the herbs and garlic out of the liquid and rebottle the liquid for use. Since it is vinegar based, it should keep for ages. This vinegar is not meant to be in food, but since it is made with only edible ingredients it could be used in cooking though I couldn’t

comment on the taste or any recipe ideas. It could be

added in minute amounts to foods as an illness banisher

I suppose, if you wish to do so. I was told that if you swap out the black pepper and cayenne pepper with herbs such

as rosemary and parsley, it would be good to use in a vin-

aigrette on salads, which I am going to try.

Four Thieves’ Vinegar Spells

To use Four Thieves Vinegar to clear your home of nega-

tivity, you can place a small bowl of the vinegar in each

room of your home overnight to absorb that negativity. I