~ Blwyddyn Newydd Dda ~ Happy New Year ~ and some Magic ~

Moon Rings

photo by Mark Lee

I have been wanting to ~ and tried to ~ start writing here again for some time. I even have a few draft posts but they just do not feel right.


There is the courteous, well~mannered part of me that wants to explain my absence and lack of communication with people who have asked about me....and then there is the part that feels private and protective about what has gone on with me for the last nearly six months.


I will just say that I had a scare, I became even more reclusive than usual, I am taking Essiac herbs daily, and leave it at that.


Thank you so much to you lovely people who did ask...and I am sorry I did not get back to you. For a while there I became depressed and did not act as I would usually.


Tilly, our gorgeous little dog, has had a rough ride too, but, she is now on four tablets a day, and the seizures are much less frequent thankfully.


And now on to brighter and happier things ~ ~ ~


I have a new word for this year....magic....I want it back in my life; that wonder, excitement and joy for the little things....like going out to the garden yesterday and seeing the daffodil leaves well above the ground, the snowdrops just peeping out their silvery greenness, the hazy, very nearly full moon out there tonight...the things that put a smile in my heart, so big that I don't feel I'll be able to contain it...THAT kind of magic.


My Man and I have a motorbike again :~))))))))))))) Now Our Boy is driving himself in his own car, we have gratefully gone back to two wheels. It is such FUN, and I have the widest grin on my face from the time I get on the back and hold on tight to my love, until we stop and I get off. 


I have gone back to rebounding.....bouncing and dancing to music wildly first thing in the morning gets good energy moving a treat.


It is time my camera became my constant companion again....since August I have taken only a handful of photos...unheard of!!!

My Man has just come to tell me that he has looked up ferry crossings to France in March....and we are going to go...on the bike....wheeeeeee.....ROAD~TRIP and BOAT~TRIP


Hope you are having a good and magic first week of 2012


Cariad Mawr


H

~ This Month ~

Raspberry jam. Basil in the background

I tried my hand at jam making for the first time.

We had plenty of raspberries....still do :~)

It's similar to jelly making, which I tried in the autumn. 

The set point was just right thankfully, as I used the 'wrinkle skin' method,
which can be hit-or-miss to someone who is inexperienced.

Cardigan Wildlife Park Visitor's Centre

I wanted to make my own Virbascum thapsus (Greater Mullein) tincture this year, as this horrible new law that has passed in Europe about herbs is restricting our buying of certain herbs. Verbascum, is not all that common here, but my good friend who Tilly and I go walking with, told me of a patch of them growing at this place. We were in Cardigan visiting the dentist, so we made a short detour on the way home for me to go and harvest some leaves. I had phoned to ask permission first, and was so grateful that they were quite happy for me to do so. Thank you Nathan.

Verbascum thapsus, Greater Mullein, Aaron's Rod

The Mullein Moth Caterpillar

As I wanted to use them as fresh as possible, I had the equipment in the car ready for immediate tincture~making. 

I didn't notice My Man taking these photos.

When I planted the courgettes in the deep bed....

I had left the Plantago lanceolata (Ribwort Plantain) surrounding them....

they had grown rather profusely....

so I harvested them.... 

and made another tincture....

as the liquid in the fresh leaves escape into the vodka solution, the bulk reduces considerably.

The Plantago is freshly made here and the Verbascum has been shaken and mashed down for four days.

It is what I have needed to do to stay centred.

The Verbascum will help heal any coughs we may have this winter, and the Plantago will provide a welcome blood tonic, and rich supply of the minerals potassium, magnesium and phosphorus, as well as helping to heal those coughs along with the Verbascum.

~Magic Diaries and Flower Essences~

Friday was the beginning of Jude's Magic Diaries class, although you can join any time I think. I have been thinking about what I will try to create with this slow, possibly large cloth. Yesterday, an idea that I was really excited about ka~boomed into my head. Herbs. Herbal plants used in every way, from medicinal tinctures to infusions, to essential oils to flower remedies....these are as magic as it gets for me....my journals are filled with the making of these potions. I have an idea for the centre...the great, and versatile Mother Elder. I have many favourites, but she is at the top of the list. The list is long, so maybe the cloth will turn out to be quite large. Then, I thought of secret little pockets here and there in the cloth...and the idea came to fill those little pockets with dried aromatic herbs...Lavender was predominant. Now, it remains to be seen if my abilities are equal to my ideas....

The Evening Primrose is in bloom and it made me think of two years ago, when I made a flower essence from it...and wrote about it in my journal....

Moon magic Evening Primrose Flower Essence

~ Around the Garden Thursday ~

I'm joining up with Farmama's 'Around the Farm', (or garden), again this week. Some things are growing wildly, others are quite slow....

Our lovely apple tree outside the doors of my shed has 

four apples this year...last year it had only one 

the borage is going mad ~

Courgettes slowed down when May and June turned cold

Raspberries are ripening ~ tra~la~la

Lady's Mantle is going mad too ~

Runner beans blossoming.....

...and climbing

Peas are blossoming....

....and climbing ~ ~ ~

Parsley has just been planted outside

In the greenhouse we have ~

a cherry tomato plant

and a beef tomato plant ~

these and the cucumbers are really slow this year

I couldn't take out that fern...it's so pretty

this lettuce is so delicious

Basil is finally growing....only two plants made it this year 

~ this is the bigger one. We had some in our salad tonight

....oh my it's good.

This Elder is eleven years old now. She seeded herself in a pot of mint I had

before we came to live here. I brought her here with us and planted her by the 

hedge. I did not know then that Ash trees (you can see them behind her) 

 are very hungry and take lots of nutrients from the ground around. I think 

maybe that is why she does not produce so many blossoms. I love having her

in our garden. It does not matter that she can't supply me with the flowers

 and berries I need through the year....

I had tried three times to grow lavender here, but it just did not like the

soil. Our friend who we house~sit for has wonderfully large and healthy

plants, so she gave me some of her - very sandy - soil to try once more.

This plant is thriving in its pot of sand and I love that we have lavender

in our garden ~

Thyme has tiny blossoms

and I'm so happy that Sage is flowering on and on

~ Elderflower ~

Our Boy is happy. It's the time of the Elderflower again and for the past four days our house has had the bewitching, dreamy, lazy~summer~evenings smell of this creamy exquisite flower curling around its rooms.

Every year I make twelve litres of cordial, which he almost single~handedly consumes over the next few months...it has yet to last him a year! 

I love the whole process of it.....wildcrafting from trees abundant with the blooms.....

saying a silent thank you to the Mother Elder

 ~ asking permission from each tree before beginning ~ 

Picking the flowers that shine out from the rest, as they let me know they are the ones I can take, then saying thank you and leaving an offering....I cut little pieces of my hair as that is what feels right for me.

I have been making this for the last nineteen summers and I love how the annual ritual has brought an efficiency to the process. Although I am mindful as I work, I do not need to think about what I am doing...my body has the memory of the practice deep in its bones...the same as when I give a massage.

Today was bottling day and it is ultimately satisfying to have fifteen green, ceramic~topped beauties ~ and one little clear one ~  filled with sweet, tangy deliciousness lined up in the cupboard.

The Elder is one of my favourite herbs and, as Our Boy seems to get one bout of very high fever every winter (except when we home~schooled him for four years!), I always use the dried flowers in an infusion...along with yarrow and boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum)....to help control the high temperature.
Early autumn brings the pleasure of making a tincture out of the Elderberries....

I love to make our herbal medicines and Sambucus is one I always keep in supply. It has the desirable action of disabling the flu virus. Apparently it makes the needle-like protrusions that the virus uses to pierce our cells, soft and jelly-like, thus rendering them useless. It has the added bonus of being warming and comforting when we are feeling ill.

On~going in the kitchen is Kombucha and, more recently, Kefir~making. The Kombucha is like a fine pear cider at the moment, and the three of us need a regular turn~over of eight litres. I seem to be bottling every other day.

It took me a little time to get used to the smell and taste of Kefir, but now I am enjoying it....especially for breakfast, poured over blueberries.....and in a few days it will be our very own raspberries....there were nine ripe today....yay.

What do you like to make in your kitchen?

Farewell Winter ~ Hello Spring ~ and....

.....words about some of my experience with herbs ~

Starlings have flown off ~ with our Winter 

and Spring has arrived in our garden

 Rowan  ~ a little sapling I planted last year. It brings to our home

protection against enchantment, protection of ley-lines, highest pure

magic, healing and success.

Incenses made from the ground-up leaves and berries help to dispel

negative energies. I shall be trying that this year. The smoke from its fire

was used by the Druids to call up spirit guides and magical spirits.

Its bark and berries give a black dye

and

most important of all

song birds adore its fruit.

Blackthorn blossom in the hedge at the bottom of our garden

~ where the faeries live.

As well as providing berries for making sloe vodka or gin, it

brings to our home a powerful means of cleansing and the purification

of any negative attitudes we may carry within us, working deeply

on the psyche and allowing us to be free to create.

(It grows just a few steps from the doors of my studio,

so I'm relying on it to live up to its promise).

Birch ~ a little sapling I planted two years ago.

She is slowly gaining in strength and height.

She brings to our home a means of purification, cleansing

old stagnant habits and allowing a flow of new ideas.

I love that here in Wales, it was customary for a young 

man to present a birch garland to the womon he loved,

and she would give him one in return if she felt the same way.

The young leaves are effective in healing any urinary complaints, 

and giving relief from rheumatism and gout.

The bark of the birch is so beautiful, though our little one has

many years to go before we may use hers. It is like paper, and

its magical parchment was used to write on from ancient times.

Always ask permission whenever you wish to use any part of

 a tree (or any plant); and show respect to all trees, as

this 'Lady of the Woods' gets very angry if they are abused

and may whip you with her slender branches! 

Rosemary blossom ~ just outside our front door. 

 Its symbolism brings to our home love and loyalty, friendship and

remembrance. It is well known for its ability to strengthen the memory,

and is considered a wonderful tonic for the heart, brain and nervous

system as well as being useful in strengthening the immune system.

I have used it in its essential oil form for many years to help clients

with sore, tense muscles, arthritis and rheumatism, though never on

someone with high blood pressure (hypertension) due to its hypertensive

actions. Conversely, the herb as an infusion, is used to control a

headache brought on by....hypertension! The essential oil of any plant is 

a powerful powerhouse in a bottle and much more concentrated than the 

fresh or dried herb.

Recently, builders were working on the outside of our house and they

were not careful with our rosemary bush, breaking off several branches.

Of course I was upset that people are so uncaring and disrespectful of

growing things...in fact I growled...I'm good at growling, but the damage

was done, so I added sprigs of sage and made smudge bundles from them.

The smoke has cleansed and warmed us through the cold month of

February and continues to uplift and cheer as the warmer weather

comes to visit.

Lesser Celendine leaves (not in our garden ~ yet)

This is the very first herb I wildcrafted, way back when I was nine or ten

years old. There is a story attached to it -

A wise farmer's wife who lived near where I grew up was visited by

a Romany lady selling pegs and lace. Mrs T. had no need of these

items, but wondered if the lady knew of any herbs that would get rid

of haemorrhoids. The lady duly went off, and came back with a

clump of roots that had a little of the shape of haemorrhoids to them 

(think Doctrine of Signatures here). Mrs T. was instructed to wash

the roots, and eat them raw in a sandwich once a day.

When the lady had been thanked and paid and gone on her way,

Mrs T. thought she would like to know for herself where this plant

had been found. She walked in the direction she had seen the lady

go and kept looking for disturbed earth. On finding it, she identified

the Lesser Celendine (Ranunculus ficaria) for future use, in case of

haemorrhoids.....which came in useful for my father when he suffered

this painful condition. He knew I was familiar with the wild plants that

grew in our fields and the bordering woods, so I visited with Mrs T.

for her to show me what to pick, and from then on, every Spring, I

would go and dig roots of this plant for my father to put in a sandwich.

Years on, I found out that it is not recommended to eat the roots raw!!

It has never harmed my father, who is still fit and well at, soon to be 79

but I would not recommend anyone to take them without first checking with

a qualified medicinal herbalist.

Reference source for trees: 'A Tree In Your Pocket' by Jacqueline Memory Paterson

I love this little book. It isn't one I would use to identify trees....there are plenty of others for that....but not so many that delve into the folklore, magic and pure joy of these rooted friends.

~ Happy Makers this week ~

picking mints from the garden to make three~mint~tea for breakfast

drinking kombucha ~ feeeeling its goodness

bare feet and hot~fuchsia painted toe nails

dancing with My Man around the kitchen

feeling the grass beneath my feet

delicate flowery fragrance of primroses filling our garden

Our Boy loving life

Big Mama Bumblebees

sun~dried washing

singing to seeds planted in the greenhouse

sunshine on my face

cuddles with Tilly

ash trees and red currant bushes in bloom

daisies (Bellis perennis ~ my most favouritest Latin name)

new shoots on my little lavender plant

posting parcels

daffodil and tete a tete sunniness 

Papa blackbird serenading from a tree

the night before the super perigee full moon

~ International Women's Day ~

Celebrating International Women's Day with

Ishtar ~ goddes of all that comprises woman ~

Diana and Venus

and

Alchemilla vulgaris ~ Lady's mantle ~ 'women's best friend'

Being a woman...how I love being a woman. I love that we nurture and care; are intuitive and aware of our loved one's needs; are homemakers and multi~taskers, makers and creatresses(!), feeders and lovers, healers.

I am so glad that I have knowledge of healing. I am so glad that when Our Boy was coughing in his sleep last night, I knew to grab the nearest bottle of Lavender essential oil (I have a few) and massage just one drop into the hollow of his throat and that in less than five minutes he was cough free and sleeping restfully for the rest of the night. I am so glad that when he woke up today and was complaining of a painful shoulder, I knew how to first, massage the muscles as deeply as he could tolerate with my choice of essential oils, in this instance Black Pepper, Rosemary and Lavender (it gets used for so much), and secondly, apply a hot compress with essential oils of Chamomile Roman and Lavender, finishing off with a light and soothing massage. I am so glad that when we have flu or colds, I know to treat us with these.

I was fascinated by my thought process a couple of months ago when Our Boy had a very bad flu and his tongue became dry, cracked and bleeding. It was like watching a film in fast forward as ideas flashed from the memory banks...to be rejected as not quite right until the aha moment of  ~ honey as a carrier....healing and soothing in its own right....with a drop of calendula absolute....so beneficial for healing inflamed and cracked skin. I was thrilled to bits when it had worked its magic by that night. 

It was the same when a friend recently badly damaged his hand and the corrective surgery had left deep scarring, which needed to be kept soft and supple. It was a joy to me to be able to delve deeply into intuition and knowledge and produce a cream that has been a great success.

This is not at all what I had in mind to write to honour International Woman's Day. I was going to write about goddesses, and trees ruled by Venus, and specific women's herbs, but all the above just flowed out and, really, it is a huge part of who I am as a woman. It is my life. It is what I do. And I am glad.

~ A month of Haws ~

Oh beautiful October how I am loving this summery autumn you are gifting us ~ thank you*

The Rowan berries are in full orange fire
and the air is biting into an Autumn crisp;
while the light is sliding from its warm summer pink
to the cooler blue of shadowy fall.

Twice this month I have collected, simmered in cider vinegar and water, mashed and strained through a sieve, the meditative process of making hawberry ketchup. The picking and de-stalking are reminiscent of sitting as a child with my nana on her peaceful doorstep, shelling peas we had just picked from her abundant garden.

Red haws

blue sky.

A willow basket

made with love to hold 

these berries

~ little capsules of heart medicine ~

It is an excercise in patience to mash the cooked berries through a sieve, but listening to this, which makes it summer at any time of the year, and this which must surely make anyone just want to dance made it purely pleasurable. Many berries have to be picked to make up a weight of 500g which, as a ketchup fills just one bottle, but the taste is so good that it was worth the effort of doing it twice, so we could have two bottles!

I heard that if you turn the bottles upside down when you have poured in the hot sauce, it makes them self sterilize, so that is why these two are rather a sticky looking mess :~)