Tea spells - Healing floral matcha

This month I have not had the best time of things, full of self hatred and anxiety. Not great. So alongside practical considerations for mental health which are obviously incredibly important (taking prescribed medication, trying to exercise and eat right when I can, trying not to be a hermit and petting cats so, so much) I decided to see if I could make a tea to give myself a little boost.

These were the ingredients I used:

💜 lavender - happiness, chastity, happiness, love, peace, protection and purification

🥀 rose - divination, fortune, healing, love, protection and psychic abilities

🍃 matcha - fire magic, healing, love, catalysts, mindfulness, passion, sexual health and new energies

I was mostly after the healing, peaceful and love focused ingredients. Additionally lavender has such a gorgeous calming scent!

First I made a pot of tea from the floral ingredients. I left this for a few minutes to brew then measured out a scoop of matcha.

I then strained the herbal tea into the matcha bowl. The lavender got stuck in the spout, I'll definitely use and infuser rather than a strainer next time! It didn't matter too much that the water had cooled slightly as I infused it with the flowers as ideally green tea doesn't want boiling temperature water anyway.

As far as I can tell, matcha has the same correspondences as green tea. As matcha is green tea powder suspended in water rather than an infusion it keeps more of the ingredients in the finished drink. This gives it a bigger punch of the health benefits associated with normal green tea, which is great.

As it is a powder matcha does need to be whisked (I am very lucky to have received a lovely traditional style set for an Xmas present one year! But you can use one of those electric whisks for coffee if you happen to have one and I suspect you could mix it in a protein shaker but I haven't tested this yet!). I chose to use the same practice many people use when stirring with a teaspoon and I mixed it clockwise whilst imagining positive energies been whisked into it for healing and love.

The finished product was a slightly odd taste but nice. It isn't something I'd have as a standard drink but it did indeed make me feel calmer and generally a small amount better. Yay for tea! I will definitely be making this again, I am tempted to make a pot to bottle up and keep on hand in the fridge to drink iced.

Correspondence and More: Pine

Quick correspondence:

Gender: male

Planet: Saturn (or Mars)

Element: Fire (or Air)

Magickal uses: 

Healing, protection, fertility,

money, prosperity, cleansing,

endurance

As an evergreen, pine is thought to help with both literal and metaphorical endurance of the heart and mind through winter.  This can be generalised to endurance throughout other difficult times, and so meditating under a pine tree is meant to provide a new outlook and renewed vigour to rise to challenges.

Physically, the oil has several uses.  It can be added to a chest rub to loosen phlegm or added to a skin preparation to help with itching and acne.  It can also be used in massage oil for muscle or joint pain.  The needles get their distinctive scent from an essential oil called pinenes, which are decongesting and anti microbial.  They can be simmered in water and used as an inhalation for help with catarrh, put in a bath for muscular aches and pains, or made into a tea with high concentrations of vitamins A and C.  For any of these purposes, chop the needles first to release the oils.

If you wish to gather the resin for incense you may find some on the trunks of mature trees.  If you are not lucky enough to find any then you can gather the resin by making a small cut on the trunk and waiting for it to seep out but this should only be done carefully and on mature trees.

Pinecones are believed to ward of evil when carried and similarly pine can be burned in the hearth or made into wreaths for this purpose.  Pincones are a symbol of fertility, particularly for males.  They are sometimes used to top wands in a similar way to acorns.  The pine tree is associated with Saturn and Saturnalia (a Roman winter festival celebrating the god Saturn).

The needles have culinary uses and can be used in vinegar, biscuits, wine and a Swedish tea called tallsrunt.  The bark (the inner, white bark) has been used in bread.  And of course pine nuts are a delicious addition to many dishes and are traditionally one of the main ingredients in pesto.

Introduction

I'm CircusWitch and as you may have guessed, I'm a big lover of circus skills as well as having an active interest in witchcraft.  I practice aerial hoop, fire arts (breathing, eating, fans, body burning, playing with fire whilst doing aerial because why not...) and dabble in contact juggling, contact staff and hula hoop.  I am also in the process of learning stilts, unicycle and juggling but at the moment can't do any of the three.  If you are interested in following my adventures in performing and training then I've left the links at the bottom of the post (however some of my modelling and burlesque is slightly NSFW).

As far as witchcraft goes, I'm pretty new at it.  I did practice witchcraft briefly as a teenager at school (I'm 28 now) but it didn't stick for very long, probably not helped by being in a catholic school and with parents who are against it.  I was raised vaguely Christian, then went agnostic, then witch, then atheist.  Last year I realised that I was interested in exploring some sort of spirituality and so told my supportive husband and started looking into witchcraft seriously.  I had actually been really lovely.  I've learned so many interesting things and almost everyone I've spoken to has been incredibly supportive.  I feel more able to appreciate and connect with nature and have used some spells to get a limited control over my anxiety.  The only real stumbling block I've come across is asking people the 'right' way to practiceas I generally get the response that it's personal choice - totally opposite to my experience of Catholicism but I'm learning to embrace the freedom.

I would probably class myself as an eclectic, secular witch but beyond that I'm trying a wide range of things.  I love crystals, teas and aromatherapy.  I am not particularly into divination and I am very confused about sigils.  But all of this is so new to me that it's perfectly possible that could all change in a month. Who knows?

husband and my two cats, Meep and Ninja.  I have a science degree in biology and psychology.  I suffer from mental illness.  I enjoy pyrography and making random crafts.  I very much want to get more flexible, my current goals are splits and back flexibility.  I'm mostly an introvert.  I'm bisexual.  And I have a lot of teas!

General Instagram: the.circus.witch

Performer profiles:

Instagram: a.darker.flower

Facebook: Fleur Noire