altars and herbs

On my other blog, I participate in the Photo Hunters project. This weeks topic was "Protect(ion)". After giving some thought to what I would like to photograph, I decided to use my protection altar for the shot. After taking a photo, I ended up taking photos of several of my altars.

I have several altars setup in my home. Each one is important to me and is used for various things, including rootwork/conjure jobs, witchcraft spells, and honoring ancestors or various Lwa.

Here is a peak at several of my altars...


blessing altar


enemy altar


an altar for Maman Bridgette - this photo is from last summer and the altar has changed a lot. i guess i need a more recent photo...


this altar is for Ayida Wedo

I have more altars than these. I have a money altar, my main altar and an ancestor altar. I also keep a St. Michael candle burning in my kitchen window (it faces THE neighbor's house) and have a St. Michael card there so it could be considered a small protection altar.

This week there were several herb sales around the area. Normally I go to the two big sales, but this year I just went to the one at our local farmers market. I really racked up on plants. :-)



I got several very cool plants of the medicinal/magical variety. I bought Holy Basil, Joe Pye Weed (also known as Queen of the Meadow or Gravel Root), Purple Coneflower, Self-Heal, Russian Comfrey, Foxglove, Calendula, Anise Hyssop, Lemon Verbena, Bay Tree, Pennyroyal, Blue Vervain. I also bought Parsley, Italian Basil, Oregano and Cilantro.

So, does anyone else grow their own magical/medicinal herbs or have altars set up in their home?

Blessings
~*~

i've been away too long...

It's been a long month. Lots of work happening around my home and lots on the spiritual front. I've spent a bit of time helping a friend and her family remove a negative entity from their home. This is something I've done before, but it had been a really long time. It required me to spend a lot of time in contact with the spirits and entities that hang around.

Most of the time, I try to block all of that out (and usually end up with migraines). Sometimes I just open myself up and observe or absorb everything around me, and sometimes they just take over.

I've done a lot of work on this project and also another project helping someone else. I really can't give a lot of details. I don't want to say anything that would get to the wrong people. I can say it went really well and the family feels much more comfortable in their home now.

I've also been taking an herbal medicine making course. I can't remember if I've mentioned it before. It is a nine month apprenticeship course. It is really three years, but I only signed up for the first year, so far. It has been very interesting. We've learned how to make balms, tinctures, infusions. This months class we made a meal using herbs and wild plants. It was surprisingly good.

Oh, I finally have some pictures of some new projects I've been working on. I made a few memory wire bracelets and took them to my friends shop. It was the first time I'd made anything like this, except for one I made for myself. I really like the way they turned out.


This one is made with Sodalite and Hematite.



Amethyst



Citrine



Garnet


The other day when I was in the shop, they said they had sold one, so that is good. I have some other jewelry designs I want to work on, I just haven't had a chance to sit down and work on them.

I've also been dealing the feelings and emotions left from a very intense dream that I had last week. This dream left me shaking for days. I discussed it with a friend, she's really good at dream analysis, but this one had her asking questions I wasn't expecting and making me examine a lot of my thoughts and notions about my life.

Well, that is a brief rundown of what I've been doing.
Blessings
~*~