Half fill a green-glass bottle with fresh water. Add about a handful or so of the mixed, empowered herbs. Cap tightly and leave in full sunlight all day. At dusk, sniff the water. If the scent is strong, strain and add to baths, wash hands, anoint money charms and so on. If it isn’t strong enough, chill overnight and return to the Sun the following day.
Scored the vanilla bean along its length. Add herbs to the red wine with the vanilla bean. Add two teaspoons rhubarb juice (if available), and let sit for three days. Serve.
In a red-glass bottle half-filled with water, steep the herbs in the Sun for a day. Strain and add to bath water, or anoint your body for personal protection. Also anoint protective amulets and talismans.
Half fill a blue-glass bottle with fresh water. Add the ground, empowered herbs to it and let this sit in the Sun all day. If by sunset the water has been colored by the herbs, it is ready for use. If not, store in the refrigerator overnight and steep in the Sun the following day. Strain. Anoint the body or add to bath water while visualizing yourself as being in perfect health.
Mix, add one teaspoon mixture to a cup, pour boiling over the herbs and let steep for nine minutes, covered. Drink a few teaspoons a day or add to the bath.
(Cayenne pepper is marked here with a caution! because it is a strong herb. Use with care and respect.)
Mix, add one teaspoon to a cup. Pour boiling water over this and let steep, covered, for a few minutes. Drink before going to bed to produce psychic dreams.
Place in teapot, fill with boiling water, let steep, covered, for a few minutes. Remove cover, sniff steam (not so that you burn your nose) for a few moments, visualize the mystic scent opening your psychic awareness, then lie down and prophesize. If you wish, drink a bit of the brew as well, and let the steam continue to rise as you stretch your psychic awareness.
Boil water in a cauldron over an open fire. Place all ingredients into the cauldron. Sit before it and entrance yourself by watching the flames. Smell its mystic scent and receive wisdom.
Fire, gas flame or stove coils will do for the heat source, I suppose you could prepare a brew in a microwave oven, but this isn’t the best idea. If nothing else, it reduces some of the magick of the process.
If you’re the old-fashioned kind, try making a few in a fire place or outdoors over a blaze.
The Vessels
It’s best if the water and herbs don’t come into direct contact with metal while brewing. There are few exceptions to this in herbalism. One is cauldron brewing, which is little-practiced today. Herbal products prepared with double boilers may also require metal pots. But in general, avoid metal.
Clear glass jars work well for Solar infusions. Simply place the water and herbs into the jar and set this in direct sunlight, preferably outdoors. Leave it there for most of the day. Some brews are made with glass jars of various colors.
The Brew
Use specific instruction that are given with each of the recipes in this section.
For a basic brew: Gather, grind and mix the herbs. For brews to be drunk, used a separate culinary mortar and pestle for grinding not the one used for heavy-duty magickal herbs.
Empower the herbs with your magickal goal.
Heat about two cups water to boiling. Place about one handful of mixed, empowered herbs in a teapot or some other heat-proof, non-metallic container. Pour the water over the herbs. Cover with an equally non-metallic, steam-tight lid. Let the herbs brew for about 13 minutes. Strain through cheesecloth or a bamboo strainer, and use as directed.
Brews should be used as quickly as possible. If necessary, they can be stored in the refrigerator for three or four days. After this time return them to the Earth and create a new brew.
A note regarding “love” potions. There are no drinks that will emotionally enslaved another person to you, no brews that will cause love. However, some brews have long been celebrated for relaxing inhibitions and mellowing the emotions. Also, a few have been used to smooth over difficulties during long-term relationships and marriages.
The type of water used in brewing is of some importance. Well, spring and distilled waters are preferred over that which pours from the tap. You can buy these bottled or collect them from the source, so long as it’s unpolluted and free running. Rain water is ideal for use — except when gathered in smoggy areas. Tap water can be used as a last resort, but consider purchasing the bottled variety in the future.
Distilled water is used for medicinal preparations, which is fine but not for magickal operations, for it is inert. If you’re going to drink the brew (or even if you’re not), distilled water is definitely better than chlorinated, fluoridated, bacteria-filled tap water. If it’s all you have, use it.
Sea water and mineral water aren’t recommended due to their high mineral content.
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