Make Every Day a Ritual – Evening

Human’s need rituals. This is the conclusion I’ve come to after years of studying religions, faith, people, psychology, cultures, and just watching people in all settings, in all walks of life.

Now, let me clarify that by ritual I don’t necessarily mean a religious rite or sermon. By ritual I mostly mean a habit. Daily rituals are good, healthy, fulfilling habits done every day that help your emotional, physical and spiritual growth. This could be as simple as a cup of chamomile tea after a long day at work or as elaborate as every weekend you create an at-home spa for yourself, shut down all technological outlets, and just relax and detox from negativity.

Here are some daily rituals that I have and I want to make clear that I’m not posting these to tell you that you should do them – NOT AT ALL! You should make your own rituals, ones that are unique to you! I post these only to inspire you and better explain how important these small acts are to me.
Also, be sure to check out my Morning Blessings and Mid-day Offerings

Evening Revelations

Evenings are family time for me. It is the time when I go to my girlfriend’s derby bouts, visit with close friends, eat dinner together (even if we’re all having something different), snuggle up together, or just lounge and be together.

Evenings are also the time in which my brain goes into social mode. I am on Twitter, Facebook, my blog, Pinterest, Witch School and Temple Illuminatus chat, and so on. I’m catching up with what was going on in the world that day, posting on my blog to share my own insanity, answering e-mails and forum posts. If there are any new videos posts on YouTube from my subscriptions, I watch them. I read the blog posts that I follow. I connect with the world around me. This all usually happens while the three of us play a movie in the background, which may be noise pollution or mental anxiety but it is something that can draw us out of our online world even if it is just a moment to laugh together or discuss something that just happened in our peripheral vision.

This is also the time I do readings, if any are ordered. I retreat to the bedroom and lay out my cards, take pictures, spend time writing up the reading so that I get exactly what I need to get across and send them out to you, my readers.

I usually end my day with a bath or shower. This is my time to visualize any irritations, negativity, non-beneficial energies being washed off of me like so much dirt and spiraling down the drain to reconnect with Mother Earth who will transform them to something more beneficial in the long run. Sometimes I do another Reiki self-treatment in the shower, this one a shorter one that usually focuses on the upper body and major chakras.

I come out of the shower, fresh and warm; drink a mug of tea; finish up my day if I have any loose strings; prepare for bed with my lovies.

Concluding my Rituals

These are all my rituals that get me through my day. They are by no means anything I recommend for others. Please find rituals as unique as you are. They are by no means set in stone. They can change from week to week, month to month, year to year. I may no longer drink a pot of tea a day just as I no longer drink 3 pots of coffee a day. I might start using flower essences and ethereal flowers instead of crystals and reiki in my water. I might start showering of a morning for rejuvenation instead of in the evening for relaxation. I may magically become a morning person…not likely…but I might.

I seriously don’t expect to have these same rituals AT ALL if/when we move, have kids, have financial or employment changes, etc. That all is in the future and, while I plan on it like the Sagittarius I am, I am not bothering to change my rituals for it just yet.

The point of these posts is to show you what I do. Now I want to see what you do. If you write a Make Every Day a Ritual post, please share it with me here in the comments or post it on Twitter with #EveryDayRituals

I can’t wait to read all of your sacred rituals.

Love and Light
HedgeWife

Ritual Bath 2

A little while I wrote about Ritual Baths and gave an example of the one I did for my First Degree Course for WitchSchool. The following is another example for yet another Witch School class - Living the Wiccan Life.

While the bath for First Degree is for releasing the past, the bath for Living the Wiccan Life is for purification and is more of an "in general" use.
The lessons teaches that ritual baths "removes negativity from you on all levels. It can energize you, and increase your psychic awareness and ability."
This ritual bath exercise too uses herbs and asks that you choose from a list and pick at least one purifying herb and combine it with at least one other mentioned.

The purification herbs listed at Burdock, Lavender and Dandelion Leaf.
Other herbs listed are:
Cinnamon to raise spiritual vibrations
Jasmine to promote psychic ability
Peppermint to increase psychic ability
Red rose petals which are sacred to the Goddess and promote clairvoyance and happiness.

I do disagree with the inclusion of cinnamon as it can be very irritating in a bath.
The lesson even recommends using essential oils instead of herbs if must and, thought it does warn that peppermint and cinnamon can be irritating to skin, it does not include that the essential oils should be diluted in a carrier oil and that cinnamon oil can actually cause burns on the skin.

Other than that, the herbs listed are great and easily obtainable for the most part at health food stores, supermarkets and in fresh, dried or tea forms.

I chose Lavender and Rose as well as Chamomile which was not listed to aid Lavender's soothing powers.
I did light a few white tea lights to set around the tub and some lavender e.o in a nearby oil burner.

Ritual Bath

In the months and year to come I will be taking a few courses on spirituality and healing/herbalism.

One of these courses is the First Degree course for Witch School. The first lesson in this degree involves a bath as the spell of the month. Sounds simple enough except when you get into the spell, it involves reviewing and releasing all the painful memories of the past. 

That being said, the spell does involve some herbs. 

In the bath or in a cheesecloth (like a tea bag) I'm asked to add a handful each of Rosemary, Sage and Sea Salt. 

Rosemary:

A sun-related masculine herb with the element of fire.

Energies include cleansing and purification as well as protection. 

This is also a great herb for mental clarity.

Used for kitchen witchery as well as ritual magic, this is also a great herb for the garden or a small potted plant. 

Other purposes- rosemary is used in incense, dream pillows, to asperge a ritual space with holy water, and was even used in wedding garlands in the past. 

On a more personal note - Rosemary was one of the herbs in the bath mix i was given for my first less on with Herbal Healer Academy. I find it suiting that it is another rosemary bath that starts me on this first degree course. 

Sage

Another masculine herb, sage has the properties of Air and is associated with Jupiter. 

Energies include purification, healing, mental clarity and amplification, and prosperity.

Sage can even be used to contact spirit guides and expand the self to reach the Higher Self. 

I am most used to using Sage as a smudging stick for ritual cleansing of a space or a person and I believe that this use most reflects is Air-like quality. 

Salt

While not an herb, salt is used in all forms of magick form High Ritual to low garden or kitchen witchery. 

Today we have access to all kinds of salt from Pink Himalayan (my personal favorite) to black to white flaky sea salt. 

For this bath purpose course sea salt or even bath salts can be used. 

Its always best to make your own ritual tools, including herbal blends, but if you wanted something ready to go, there are many stores online and off that offer a variety of herbal bath salt blends for various purposes. 

This Wicca Ritual Cleansing Bath Salt is made with quartz crystal (which you can easily add to your own bath mix if using a tea ball or cheesecloth). This particular blend was mixed on a Full Moon during a "Raging" storm, so it will also hold that powerful energy amplified by the crystals. 

Buy at The Witches Corner on Etsy

This beautiful blend I could not describe better than the words on the website so I will simply share them here with you:

"This is the "healed" blend of exclusive Sage Goddess bath salts, designed to facilitate physical and emotional wellness through purification and detoxification. This mixture of pure essential oils and organic herbs will encourage you to breathe deeply and clearly...

The mint leaves (spearmint and peppermint) are organic. The four essential oils in my blend - a mixture of rosemary, peppermint, and ruby grapefruit - are organic and pure. A combination of sea and dead salt provides texture and softens skin.

I package the salt mixture with one piece of bloodstone, which you can see in the photo; all salts are smudged with sage before shipping. My intention is that when you open the package, you will feel instantly at peace, ready to clear your mind and body of whatever illness or unwell sensations you have. Let go of what does not serve."

You can buy this exquisite blend at The Sage Goddess on Etsy

This collection of bath salts use herbs, resins and essential oils and are made individuality so that you can decide on just one herbal energy or a few to blend yourself to your discretion. 

Currently available are Dragons Blood, Lemongrass Sage, Hyssop (another clarifying herb), and the aforementioned Rosemary. 

Plus, they're available in these darling apothecary jars that I love. 

You can purchase these salts at Findias Emporium on Etsy.








*Magickal properties of herbs found in Scott Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs