Читать книгу The Real Witches’ Kitchen: Spells, recipes, oils, lotions and potions from the Witches’ Hearth - Kate West - Страница 25

‘A proper person, properly prepared…’

An important part of any ritual is preparation, whether that be a Magical ritual or a daily one. For most people, a night out is preceded by a ritual of washing the body and hair, and often applying scents to set the mood. Whilst doing so they think about where they are going, what they will be doing and what they hope will happen. It is no different in the Craft; wherever possible we wash our bodies, or at least our hands, to remove not only the dirt of the day, but also the negative thoughts and feelings of day-to-day life. At the same time we also prepare our minds by thinking through what we are about to do and what we wish to achieve. Of course, this can be done with plain soaps and bathing products, but it can be greatly enhanced by the use of products which we have created, altered and Magically empowered. Here I am going to take a look at ways of creating or, more often, changing existing products to Magically enhance them.

Whilst it is possible to make soaps, bath foams, shampoos and anointing oils from first principles, it is not really practical for everyone. As a result I am going to talk mainly about how we can take existing products and change them for our purposes.

The use of such enhanced products does not have to be limited to preparation for ritual. Keeping a bar of healing or refreshing soap in the bathroom can help us through daily life. Preparing a bath foam to help encourage sleep can be invaluable for the parent of a young child who refuses to ‘go down’ at night. So, many of the following will not be set aside for Craft work, but will have a place in daily life.