Cheers!
As New Year’s Eve approaches, I delight in reviewing the year-that-was as I excitedly commit to the imminent year’s emergence.
Herewith, a few of my favorite ways to magickally and aromatically reflect, prepare, celebrate, and commit.
Soak: A Bath for Banishing
Some of us do our best critical thinking and most meaningful meditations in the bath. If that’s you, too, start your year-end ritual in the tub. Hot baths with aromatherapy bath salts, oils, and/or herb sachets, for example, allow you to not only soak up benefits through your skin, but also through inhalation of steam.
If you’re looking to banish behavior (i.e., seeking to break a bad habit or interrupt an addiction), consider soaking in a hot tub infused with a generous sachet filled with whole leaf magickal herbs and flowers along with Epsom salts and sea salts.
Consider aromatics like:
- Sage (all types – protection, purification)
- Lavender (purification, strength, resolve)
- German Chamomile (nurturing, encouragement, release, warding)
- Lemon verbena (banishing, protection)
- Calendula (commitment, consecration, sacred bond)
- Lemongrass (fidelity, commitment, protection from lust/desire)
Release the behavior you seek to eliminate into the water as your body is penetrated by the supportive properties of the herbs and salts. Meanwhile, visualize yourself in your new life–without your old habit–as you soak.
Filled with the feeling of your new truth, open the drain. Remain in the tub as the water drains to ensure all of the negativity associated with your habit drains off and away. Rinse completely with fresh, hot water.
Toast: Aromatic Elixir to Celebrate Love
Celebrating the New Year among friends? A hot bath may be impractical in the middle of the festivities. Move the magic to your mug or glass where no end of possibilities abound. Whether you choose a spicy simmered brew or infused alcoholic elixir, delicious options abound featuring inspired magickal ingredients.
If you prefer your toast to be of the high octane variety, I recommend a version of the Love Potion we shared with friends this holiday.
Designed to secure a love already in place, it is a heady aromatic concoction intended to be romantically sipped and shared from a snifter warmed by both parties’ hands.
Share a toast of Love Potion #11 from a snifter with your beloved at midnight to secure your love in the new year (or add few tablespoons of the brew to a glass of champagne or hot brew like apple cider, cocoa, coffee, or tea). The aromatics in the brew (cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla, and more) celebrate passion, fidelity, love, and truth.
Love Potion #11
A spicy alcoholic aphrodisiac love potion for sipping, spiking, or toasting.
Ingredients
- Large glass bottle or jar with wide mouth and tight-sealing cap or lid
- Organic, raw honey (about 1T per 1/2 cup capacity in the bottle)
- Finely chopped dried apricots
- Finely chopped dried candied ginger
- Fresh organic orange peel twists
- Cardamom seed, whole organic
- Nutmeg, whole organic
- Cinnamon sticks, whole organic
- Whole vanilla beans
- Whole cloves
- Premium Brandy or Apple Brandy and Vodka to fill
Directions
- Step 1 Place the honey and dry/solid ingredients at the bottom of your bottle or jar.
- Step 2 Fill the remainder of the bottle/jar with a balance of the brandy and vodka.
- Step 3 Close and seal tightly. Shake gently to blend ensuring honey has dissolved into alcohol.
- Step 4 Allow to stand so flavors meld for at least 8 hours, preferably much longer. (We sometimes start ours in early December.)
If you prefer a nonalcoholic brew, you can enjoy the same magickal associations in the love potion by combining the aromatics and honey as mulling spices in a hot brew without the alcohol.
In that case, instead of peeling orange twists, spike the cloves and cinnamon sticks directly into oranges, tangerines, or mandarins.
Perfume: An Anointing Oil for Protection
Has the year-that-was left you feeling depleted and weary? I encourage you to roll into the New Year with protected energy. A simple perfume blend can do the trick:
- 1/2 ounce organic unrefined Jojoba
- 2 drops Black Pepper essential oil
- 2 drops Petitgrain essential oil
Apply sparingly to anoint pulse points and key magickal places. For instance, anoint the bottoms of your feet for safe steps in the new year, your sternum for a protected heart, or the back of your neck for limiting influence of any negativity behind you.
Whatever you resolve to attract or dispel this holiday season, we wish you great success and a Happy, Magickal New Year!
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