The Great October Book Giveaway - Botanical Magic

The following folks will be taking home beautiful botanical goodies:

 Dionne B. - The Herbcrafter’s Tarot

 Crystal L. - Blotto Botany

 Emily P. - The Illustrated Herbiary

 Inari F. - Hedgewitch's Botanical Oracle

 Congratulations!

 For those who didn’t luck out this round, not to worry, there are more treats to be had! Soar by on your broom tomorrow eve and toss your name in the hat for the next giveaway!




 As I write this, there is a howling wind shaking the trees beyond my window. I'm always a little blue when the leaves are stripped from the trees too quickly by greedy gusts. I like to revel in the fiery autumn colours as long as possible. But tomorrow there will be piles of gold and scarlet to swish my feet through, and that is the sort of thing that offers up a good amount of joy. It's difficult to believe that this delicious month is half over already, but the fun is not nearly finished yet. There is still an armful of books and treats to be had around these parts.

I do want to make an important shift in the entry process for the remaining giveaways. I've pulled several names as winners this month that had no way for me to contact them when I followed their linked comment. It's terribly sad to toss a name away that could have received a lovely parcel. Starting now, you must supply either your email address in the comments (in a safe form such as "Jen AT gmail") or a way to contact you via a non-private social media account (for example: twitter.com/rueandhyssop). You may also enter the current giveaway by sending me a note via the "make contact" button up at the top of the page - this automatically provides me with a way to contact you if you win. (EDIT Oct 18/19: The contact form has crashed as of this post. Please leave your entry as a comment, or if we are connected on social media and you want to privately enter this giveaway, then feel free to DM me. I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and I'm working behind the scenes to fix this ASAP but the Blogger platform is being problematic.) Thank you for taking this extra step to ensure I can reach you if you win!

Now...on to the next giveaway!

This is the first year in some time that I haven't bought myself a large number of herbal books. I've been working with individual plants in my gardens and wilds, attempting to learn more about the plant friends I already know and love, one on one. I've brought a few new herbs into my toolbox this year too, but I've taken a short pause from stuffing my brain with information and wanting to work with all the plants I can get my hands on. I've craved some quieter, more personal study this year. (There are some gorgeous herbal books coming out next year so you know this won't last long.) My only purchases were two books and two botanical themed card decks, and the reason I bought them was because I saw them all over Instagram this year. The reviews were excellent and the artistry and design of each item were unique and beautiful. I've been thrilled with them, and I know you will be too. Let's take closer look...

First up is The Illustrated Herbiary: Guidance and Rituals from 36 Bewitching Botanicals, by Maia Toll, stunningly illustrated by Kate O'Hara. The book is a set that includes cards for each plant mentioned, which can be employed as an oracle if you so choose. The Herbiary is a visual delight and is primarily a journey of connecting with the herbs Maia has chosen to feature. If you are looking for a field guide or a medicinal or practical herbal to help you learn to identify and grow/harvest plants, this is not that book. At the risk of sounding a little flippant, this book and card set feels like ordering dessert before dinner. It's swoon-worthy and luscious, though it isn't going to keep you alive all on its own. I do think it would make a fetching gift for anyone who already has mad crush on the natural world, and I'm pleased to have my own copy.

Drink to your health, your ancestors, and your friends. Make zines, write daily, make plants and stay true to your own tastes and well-being.” - An excerpt from Blotto Botany

Photo by Gingertooth and Twine

Next up is an alluring tome that was hand illustrated, written, and assembled by Spencre McGowan of Gingertooth and Twine. Originally a self-published zine, Blotto Botany: A Lesson in Healing Cordials and Plant Magic, is Spencre's herbal log and list of yummy experiments that was serendipitously found and re-published as a book by Harper Collins. I found Spencre on Instagram after hearing folks talk about how charming and wonderful her book was, so naturally I had to pick up a copy (and one for you too). I've only just begun to try some of the recipes within but I've got a long winter ahead (if the birds and the caterpillars are telling the truth) and I can't wait to play with more!

The first of two enchanting card decks I have for you is the Hedgewitch's Botanical Oracle by Siolo Thompson. (Siolo is also the artist and creator behind the Linestrider Tarot which I've previously shared with you.) The Botanical Oracle seems both sharp and fluid at once. Thompson's art offers the realism you want when learning about plants, with a somewhat liminal feel that benefits divination systems. Though the beautifully hefty Field Guide that accompanies the deck gives you a very nice overview of the medicinal and folkloric uses of each plant/card, it also encourages you to sense the magic inherent in the plants yourself. I've found this deck very accommodating. It works beautifully alongside other decks and I've felt immediately comfortable working with it and interpreting its messages. I'm already very attached to this deck and wouldn't part with it.

This year I've tried to curb my tarot/oracle purchases. Instead, I spent time pulling out older decks that I wanted to give some love to and make better use of. I have only three new decks this year (thus far). A magical, personal-run deck that was gifted to me by a beloved friend, the above oracle, and this next tarot set. 

I don't know that I've fallen for a tarot deck this hard in a long while. 

The Herbcrafter's Tarot is a labour of love from Latisha Guthrie and Joanna Powell Colbert. These are stunningly drawn cards with powerful messages. The companion book is stellar (the sturdy box with internal ribbon-as-lift is one you'll want to keep) and gives you information about the card through the lens of the plant depicted. It also offers medicinal and magical histories of the plants, as well as giving you practical and ritual crafting ideas to work with the plant and energy of that card.

You'll experience tarot in a new way with the intricate system Latisha and Joanna have laid out. Please do yourself a favour and click through the links to see the gorgeous cards - my photo doesn't do them enough justice!

I have one copy of each of these lovely books and decks to give away. I'll draw the four names on Sunday, October 20th at 9pm Pacific. Please ensure your email address or contact information is included in your comment. Feel free to share this post or any of the author/artist's work online and return here for a second entry. You may let me know which deck or book you'd prefer and though I can't promise to make it happen I'll do my best to match winners with their choices.

Legal Bits:

* This giveaway (or "sweepstakes") is open to all residents of Canada, (exluding Quebec residents) the USA, Great Britain, Europe, South America,  who are 18 years of age or older. This giveaway is void where prohitibited by law.  Please be aware of the contest/sweepstakes laws in your area.

*  Canadian residents will be subject to a skill testing question before being able to claim their prize (this is standard law in Canada).  The skill testing question will be in a form similar to: 1 + 2 - 1 =

*  This giveaway is not for profit and no purchase is necessary to enter.

*  This giveaway is sponsored/administrated solely by this blog/blog author and is not affilitated with or sponsored by Blogger, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or any other entity, nor can they be held liable.

* By leaving a comment intending to enter into the draw for the giveaway (or "sweepstakes") you are knowingly agreeing to these rules/conditions.

I have chosen all the books/cards featured this month myself.  I have not been paid to feature a book, nor have I been asked to advertise for anyone.  This giveaway is not endorsed or sponsored by anyone other than Rue and Hyssop

Tell Me There Is No Magic

Tell me there is no magic, and I will smile and tell you that I might have believed you once upon a time.

I might have believed you if long after my grandmother passed I hadn't picked up the scent of her perfume in my bedroom, day after day for months.

I could have been suspicious of enchantment, in the days before I learned to love stories and luxuriate in the company of books, the sorcery of words spilling across uncountable pages.

The idea of magic may have seemed ridiculous if I hadn't born witness to a few tiny seeds and a meagre amout of soil and water, producing the most magnificent oasis of food and medicine and breathtaking, flowering beauty.

Perhaps before I noticed the stars echoed in flowers and fruit, I would have agreed with you. Before I wandered through the forest listening to the voices of the trees, and climbed the valley hills and lingered in the dry scrub desert. I might have agreed if I hadn't lost myself following a trail of strange, muddy mushrooms.

There were times during the greatest heartaches, the harshest losses, and those moments when I called out for help and none came, that I might have whispered there is no magic. 

But I don't believe that is true.

There has been much magic of late.

An old friend who faded into the distance, answered a call to return to the bonfire nights that only a summer evening can offer up.  After having missed out on her company for nearly two years, she will be rejoining our horde of wild women around the flames this weekend.

The land is offering up raspberries, kale, and fat onions sweet enough to eat as if they were apples.  Enjoying meals right out of the garden is an immensely satisfying sort of witchery. And the land beyond my garden gate has given so many charms. Yarrow for healing and divination. Goldenrod for tea and to attract gold, of course. Cinquefoil for luck, protection, love, and so much more.

Funny little fascinations happen daily, it seems.  The perfect song on the radio - exactly what I needed to hear.  A call from a friend I was just thinking of at that very moment.  My intuition hitting on a few things I shouldn't have known. Grabbing something on my way out the door and wondering why, because I couldn't possibly need it - and then, naturally, an hour later needing it.

And then today, there was magic in my mailbox.  An old-fashioned letter - the kind that is hand written (and illustrated!)  And not just any old letter, but one packed full of woven charms, natural treasures, and bewitching words that took me someplace else entirely.

We are walking into the heat scorched arms of summer this weekend, and as some of us keep our heads toward the earth, watching for signs and faerie rings, others are looking skyward again to that opulent display of rocket-fuelled magic.

Tell me there is no magic, or that these enchanting moments are not evidence of real magic. I will simply smile and say...

"I might have believed you, once upon a time."

Of All The Flowers I Did Not Plant

Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?  ~ Douglas Adams

I believe in everything until it's disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it's in your mind. Who's to say that dreams and nightmares aren't as real as the here and now.  ~ John Lennon

Of all the flowers I did not plant, there is one that is my favourite.  I don't know that it is polite to pick favourites when it comes to the flowers in your garden.  But I have one anyway.

It sits in the corner of the faerie garden.  That strange strip of land where everything grows happily, no matter what it might be, or what its light or soil requirements are.  So many things have appeared there, just like magic. A vast selection of plants I did not seed in, or buy from a garden center.  "Weeds" like chickweed, plantain and dandelion sneak in, but that's to be expected.  What is unexpected is the strange flowers that pop up from who-knows-where.  Flowers I've never laid eyes on.

This alien beauty appeared four years ago. I had planted the garden with a bright pink foxglove, and then a foot and a half over, a dark purple salvia, and then another foot and a half from that, a fierce blue delphinium. The following spring, a strange plant appeared exactly where the pink foxglove had been.

I waited for it to flower, and was terribly confused when it did.  I nearly pulled it out that first year - disappointed in its odd look and sudden encroachment in my garden.

But it grew on me - the mysterious beast.  Each year I've been waiting to see what it will do.  The flowers are the lightest pink, some veined with green.  It looks like a delphinium, but not one I've ever seen.  Just a tuft of flowers on the top of wildly tall stems.

I've taken photos to the local garden center, but they can't tell me exactly what it is.  A faerie flower perhaps.

I'm so glad I didn't pull it out, those four years ago.  I tell my silly self that this is how you know magic is real. When flowers appear that you did not plant - that you can't imagine you've ever seen the likes of before.

Have you ever seen anything exactly like my mysterious beauty?  I'd love to know!  By its foliage and flower I'd have to say its a delphinium-of-sorts.  Perhaps the blue one down the garden had a love-affair with the racy pink foxglove, and this odd duck is the product.

How it found its way to my little garden I may never know, but I'll treasure its company each summer and remind myself that strange and wonderous things do happen. Sometimes right under your nose.

Naming, From Buck-Brush to Clap-Lions

From the time that I was very small, my father would take my mother, brother, and I up into the hills surrounding our little town, and drive us up and down narrow roads with barely a tire track worn into them. We would find our way down these paths so many times that we would give them names. My father also named trees, animals and plants for us whenever he spotted something he thought was interesting.  Often, as we grew older, my brother and I would mumble some sort of affirmation that we had seen what he was pointing out, but our interest waned as our teenage years blossomed.

Who knew that a short time later, I'd want to know the name of everything, and what healing properties it might hold, and what its flower might look like, and how it might continue on, leaving seeds or spreading roots behind for next season.

How strange that my father used to tell me handfuls of odd names for plants I couldn't care less about, and now I want to remember why he calls creosote bush “buck-brush” (my guess is that it rather looks like stag horns when bare in the winter.) It's called greasewood too. And chapparal. 

This is what folklore is, at its most basic. A family, community, spiritual or ethnic group develops and passes on stories and names, and ways of doing things, and tales about folks who have done things in a very bad way - in order to warn you off doing the same.  Words have power in folklore.  They point the way out of trouble and speak of healing and tell of a future mate if you twist the apple stem just right.  But it's the naming that gets me every time.  Often in relation to how a plant looked, or what animal might be attracted to it, the naming of flora stretches the imagination and flows from exotic, to practical, to plain silly.

Chapparal

Take mullein for example (a favourite of mine,) its folk names include hag's taper, Jupiter's staff, flannel leaf, torchwort, Quaker's rouge, and so many more. It looks quite like a torch, standing several feet high with its bright yellow flowers.

One of the other plants my father identified for me many years ago was "grouse-berry."

"Grouse-berry" is a low growing, spreading plant that can sometimes develop into a small shrub if trained. With pretty little jade leaves, the plant blossoms dainty and pink, and then forms bright red berries that attract grouse.  "Grouse-berry" is actually bearberry. Other folk-names include crowberry, foxberry, uva-ursi, and when combined with tobacco or other plants for smudging or smoking, it is called kinnikinnick.

Bearberry

Another cheery yellow wildflower that pops up this time of year is toadflax. It has the most charming folk names: butter and eggs, calf's snout, dragon bush, dead man's bones, bridewort, and devil's flax, to name a few.

I always called it wild snapdragon.

When my older niece was a little girl, I took her for walks down by the river. As we made our way south, I'd tell her the names of several plants we saw, just like my father had done for me, and on the way back it would be her turn to name them.  Once, when we arrived at the wild snapdragon I had pointed out, she struggled for the name. I offered to give her a hint, but she said "no - I know it," and then shouted "clap-lions!"

I laughed a bit more than I should have that day, but I've never forgotten my niece's first plant folk-name.

 Toadflax Clap-Lion

Are there any plant folk names that you or your family were partial to - or outright invented?  Do name them for me!

Dancing Into May

"Come with prong, and come with fork,

Like the devil of their talk,

And with wildly rattling sound,

Prowl the desert rocks around!

Screechowl, owl,

Join in chorus with our howl!"

~exerpt from The First Walpurgis Night (1835)

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The owls have been calling.  The dragons (in boat form) have come out onto the water. I've even come across a serpent by the riverside, sunning itself in the unseasonable heat.

The in-between time is here again.  While others excitedly watch the snow melt and give thanks for the green returning, we are already watering our lawns and gardens here in the desert end of The Valley.  We are at the tipping point of summer already. Spring has been a lightening bolt. A bright flash of color, and now the blossoms have become leaves and the strawberries are rapidly forming tiny fruit.

Even the flowers blooming this time of year speak of liminal spaces (if you buy into flower symbolism and magic.)  According to Tess Whitehurst's "The Magic of Flowers: A Guide to Their Metaphysical Uses and Properties," both Lilac and Narcissus (daffodil) open the doorway between the phyical realm and the otherworld.

"...while lilac is more about the connection between us and our deceased loved ones, narcissus is more about life, springtime, rebirth, and the beneficent beings of light associated with these energies, such as angels and faeries."

A little last minute advice: if you stay up to greet the faeries (or other wiley folk) tonight feel free to give them libations, but don't partake of what they might offer. Not all otherworldy folk are "beneficent beings of light." There is plenty of folklore to caution that if you eat or drink otherworldy offerings, you may find yourself very far from home.

As we dance our way into May, I wish you a festive and fertile spring and a vibrant and fruitful growing season ahead.  May your crops be healthy and plentiful.  May your projects and passions bring you all you desire.

Slàinte!

Witch on the Farm

Last weekend I took a trip out to the country to see the property where The Witch on the Hill is building a home.  The long driveway into her property was edged by a river of lavender.  Only about two weeks ago, she showed up at my door with a huge tub of lavender from last summer's harvest, and the plants will be flowering again soon.

She took me for a walk down the long rows of her cherry orchard.  Here and there, little green pips were showing - cherries in the making!  Every so often there was a random tree - a plum, a pear and I think she said there was an apple or two as well.  A strange little orchard, the trees were not planted well (too close together) but they have been producing a fair crop.  This autumn, after the trees are long past their harvest, she will weed out some of the smaller ones that cannot reach the light.

The tiny trickle of a creek through their property became a torrent this spring, and now that the heat has come, the run off will be coming faster.  They had to add soil and sandbags, and they are hoping that they have done enough to contain the water.  This week will be the test.

The flowers here are amazing.  The previous owners let the land grow wild - they were older and could no longer care for it the way they once had.  But you can tell that there was love here, and an eye for color.  The lilacs are gorgeous.  The second shot is hard to see, but that bush is actually a blue-purple, periwinkle color.  I've never seen that particular shade in a lilac.

Her dear pooch kept us company as we wandered.

It is a bit hard to see, but these white tulips are edged in purple and have a blue center. Amazing!

The orange and yellow tulips are striated, and the purple is mad violet!  I'd love to get my greedy fingers on some of these bulbs.  She has a big job ahead of her, cleaning up these beds and encouraging these beauties to multiply.

Her home is almost finished - she will be in by the summer.  She has many loads of plants to bring from the hill.  Her garden space here will be enormous.

And her favourite part?  She has an in-ground pool!  They just took the cover off and there's a good cleaning job waiting - but the promise of cool water on a hot Valley day is all she needs to put a smile on her face.

I am truly happy to see her in such a peaceful and vibrant place.  There was a sadness in her departure from the hill, but seeing her here, grinning and showing all the wonders of her new land, was a confirmation that this is where she is meant to be.

Transitions are funny like that.  Sometimes you have to get where you are going in order to look back and realize that it was better for you to leave some things behind.

This Week In The Garden - August

It has been wildly hot here these last few weeks.  Keeping the gardens and pots watered has become a rather large undertaking.  But very worth it when you see the rewards.  The corn is tossing its wild pink hair all over the place.

The onion harvest was plentiful.

The joys of compost - sometimes a seed survives the breaking down process and begins a new life in the strangest places.  This rogue petunia is happily living with the beets.

The tomato jungle.  An entire raised bed full of Roma (paste) tomatoes and one lone, low-acid yellow tomato for eating with fresh basil on toast - yum!

The skullcap is flowering pretty little blue blossoms.

An early squash sits fat and happy at the edge of the bed.

The simple fountain gurgles away while I'm mucking around the garden.  It's a favoured watering station for Daisy the kitty.

The weather will cool soon enough.  I've noticed a few 'tells' this week along the river.  The salmon are back - early this year.  The quail have given up keeping to pairs (and families) and are back to flocking in groups.  I saw them moving through the neighbours' yards, fattening up already.  An early winter this year?  It's hard to say - but I hope not.  I'm looking forward to a nice long autumn!

Florida Water

My Florida Water ingredients for this year

A refreshing scent, a stirring room, linen, or body splash or spray, or a spiritual tool? Florida Water is all these things and more. Debuting in the early 1800's as a his-or-hers cologne, the stimulating liquid created by Robert I. Murray gained popularity and was eventually re-created by other enterprising companies, though the Murray & Lanman brand is still one of the most recognized. The name is said to be a nod to the old tales that the Fountain of Youth might be hidden somewhere in Florida. The base word of Florida, flor, the Spanish word for flower, also alludes to the floral qualities of the liquid.

Florida Water has a varied history of uses. It was proposed to be not only a perfume, a tonic and something that might restore youth, but medicinal and curative. I can't speak to some of those applications here (and I'd never recommend ingesting anyone's version of the water) but Florida Water has become a popular ingredient in many people's spiritual and folk practices. There is a great deal of debt owed to the southern African American spiritual communities (from practitioners of Hoodoo, Voodoo, and Lucumi, to Catholics) for bringing the devotional and magical use of the liquid to the forefront.

As a spiritual tool, Florida Water is said to be pleasing to the spirits. Its traditional floral and citrusy scent is attractive and it is often employed as a holy or blessing water. There isn’t one specific recipe for Florida Water. I've come across blends that can include any number of ingredients, including the following:

Bergamot
Rose
Lavender
Clove
Orange
Lemon
Neroli
Cinnamon
Jasmine

The process of making your own splash or spray can range from simple to complex, depending on your ability to do the work and source the ingredients. For an easy blend, combine purified or distilled water and add the essential oils of your choice from the above list until you find you have a pleasing scent. Bottle, and bless your creation according to your spiritual tradition.

One of the selling points of some personal Florida Water blends is that they have included several different waters collected from locations considered sacred, such as holy wells or specific natural or man-made fonts or streams. You may include these waters in your blend, but you will need to add a high-proof alcohol to the mixture in order to keep the blend from turning rancid.

You can also make Florida Water with plant material, which is more labour intensive but really gives you a connection to the end result. This is the way I like to make my blend. I wild-harvest local flowers, roots, and other herbal material from a well-known area (and I often add some plants that I've grown). Employing flora from areas that I have a relationship with feels good to me, and I will usually ask to be led to the plants that want to be involved the creation of my water.

I place all the herbal material in a glass jar (it should be loosely full - not stuffed) and then fill the jar with a high proof alcohol. This is my Florida Water mother tincture. I may add different items to it if I am called to. Each year my mother blend is unique. There are times I may add tree resins, or a stone or a piece of silver or gold to the mother, though this isn't considered traditional. This tincture sits on my altar, often getting moon-baths under full or auspicious moons, for at least three moon-cycles, though I've had one blend that infused for almost a year.

When I'm ready to decant the water, I strain off the solid material and save the liquid in a labeled bottle. This tincture is potent, so it is diluted by at least half with purified water when added to smaller bottles. I like the convenience of having a spray, so I use mister-caps on my bottles (pictured below). Depending on the year, I might add sacred waters that I have collected and preserved. My last act is to add to the bottle a blend of essential oils that I created, to make this spray my own. This blend ensures that, despite the differing ingredients in the mother tincture each year, the spray has the spicy, citrusy scent I desire. 

Whether you make Florida Water simply, using some of the more traditional ingredients and essential oils, or whether you forage for natural materials and create your own inspired mixture, enlisting the help of plants is very rewarding and the resulting water is truly a blessing. Use it to feed your altars or ancestors, bless spaces or tools, or simply to refresh a room or your own spirit. Enjoy!




Please note: this article was heavily edited on July 6, 2017 to reflect my current Florida Water process. Aside from a few cringe-worthy punctuation errors, the previous incarnation of this post was an accurate snapshot of my process when I first set out making this water, but I've adapted and grown over the years and my working has shifted. Because this is an often-viewed post, an update was long overdue.

If you don't want to make your own Florida Water, I sell bottles of my blend here.