It has been almost a full year since I first began making my own homemade deodorants. I haven’t had to remake it but a couple times this year, so it saved me lots of store visits—- This deodorant will save you money over the long run, save your body from cancer, and last you a long time; a little goes a long way. It should also work for 12 hours minimum, it lasts 12-24 for me.

My homemade deodorant is a tried and true deodorizer. It does exactly what it’s supposed to, and sometimes, you don’t sweat, but when you do, it’s natural and you’re actually supposed to sweat to remove toxins in the body. Aluminum salts, which are used in commercial deodorants as an antiperspirant, are highly cancerous to the human body and most deodorants contain parabens, which cause breast cancer. Although sweating is a normal function of the skin organ, the baking soda will dry it out and the cornstarch will soak it up.

Lavender and Tea Tree oil are the big guns in this blend, as they kill bacteria which causes body odor. Baking soda will prevent growth and dry the skin out, cornstarch will attempt to soak up any moisture from sweating.

Requirements:

• 250 ml Mason Jar,
• Small spoon for mixing,
• 1 pan to heat up oil,
• 1/2 tsp fresh/raw Aloe Vera Gel,
• 1/2 tsp raw African Shea Butter,
• 6 Tbsp Baking Soda,
• 4 Tbsp Coconut Oil,
• 1 Tbsp Cornstarch,
• 8 drops Lavender,
• 8 drops Cedarwood,
• 6 drops Tea Tree,

• 4 drops Peppermint,
• 4 drops Clary Sage,
• 4 drops Clove,
• 4 drops Pine,
• 1 drop Citronella,

DO NOT microwave the coconut oil if it’s not already a liquid, you don’t need the radiation, nor the molecular structure of the oil to change. Coconut oil solidifies at 76°F. Use a blow dryer or stove top pan to heat the oil. The rest of the ingredients should be added in just like normal cooking: dry first, then add in liquids. Mix by hand with small spoon.

Applying The Deodorant— I like to use my fingers to grab a small dab of it and I massage it on my underarm regions— then I wash my hands. If the paste is too thick because the room was extra cold that night, run your finger through warm water quickly. If you don’t want to touch it, make your deodorant paste thinner* by using less baking soda and you can use a q-tip as the applicator.

* If you want a light paste, use only 4-5 Tbsp of baking soda and extra Shea Butter. If you want a thick-thick paste so you can stuff it into an old deodorant tube instead, try to use 7 Tbsp baking soda.

** If you want to change the fragrance at all, use more or less of an oil. The main ingredients which will fight bacteria growth and smell are the Baking Soda and Tea Tree Oil. If you want, you can use just Tea Tree oil, but use 12-15 drops.

As always, be careful when using essential oils, consult a credible aromatherapy book, and know what may cause an allergic reaction. If there is a reaction, discontinue use immediately, and try a new batch using lavender and tea tree only. Apply lavender and aloe to the reaction.

Winter is nearly here and the depressive energies have begun to set in for a lot of people. This energy comes in annually for those who live in areas that are affected by the three or four seasons. In the four seasons, Winter is an energy which is that of stagnation, death, ending, pause, and hibernation. Although these energies are abundant, they are merely superficial, and deep within the earth a stirring rebirth is underway. This is often forgotten or hard to embrace during the cold months for many who suffer from Seasonal Depression and the like. Procrastination and a lack of motivation are almost instinctive around this time of year. To cope with this form of depression, sometimes meditation, positive affirmations, awareness of rebirth, adequate lighting to trick the mind to think it’s Summer, and hot baths just don’t do it. That extra oomph can only come from some down right authentic herbal magic and aromatherapy. Even those who are not affected by the seasonal depression can rejoice in this amazing motivation oil.

Necessities

• Essential oil bottle with roll ball,
• Olive oil as base oil,
• Sea salt crystals,
• Piece of paper & sharpie to label oil,
• Essential oils: Orange, Lemon, Mint, Rosemary, Citronella,
• Herbs: Clove bud, Lavender bud, White tea leaf, Green tea leaf, Cedar leaflet, Damiana twig,
• Crystal beads of: Carnelian, Citrine, Fluorite, Clear quartz, Peridot,
• Tarot cards: The Chariot, The Sun, The King of Wands, and The Magician.
• Optional orange candle with the word ‘motivation’ going from the wick down.

Fill the glass bottle about 3/4 with olive oil. Add in 2 drops orange, 2 drops lemon, 1 drop mint, 1 drop rosemary, and 1 drop citronella. Add in each herb then each crystal. As you do them, speak out what you’d like for them to imbue you with each time you rub the oil on your forehead or area of the body. Wine is an optional drink which you’d use to toast and bring energy to the ritual of creation.

• Olive for foundation and the efficacy of all intentions known and unknown.
• Orange for cheerfulness, exuberance, joy, creativity, and motivation.
• Lemon for merriment, happiness, good mood, and personal positive energy.
• Mint for amplifying energy, consciousness, concentration, and proper attitude.
• Rosemary for remembrance, knowledge, and repelling unhealthy habits.
• Citronella for the connection to the summer sun and alertness.
• Cedar for guidance, protection from negativity discipline, and wisdom.
• Clove for brightness and preventing all forms of pain.
• White tea for purity, detoxing my body of bad hormones, and diligence.
• Green tea for energy and energy enhancement.
• Damiana for curing depression, passion, and tranquilizing peace.
• Lavender for healing, cleansing, and relaxing all moodiness.
• Salt for cleansing all herbs of negativity and myself.
• Carnelian for motivation, passion, hard work, labor, and creativity.
• Citrine for confidence, self-esteem, know-how, skill, and intellect.
• Fluorite for grounding out all headaches, stress, and enhancing memory.
• Clear quartz to generate and conduct energy, and to establish its flow.
• Peridot for intelligence awareness, deep understanding,and incredible energy reserves.
• Wine for abundance, knowledge, brilliance, efficiency, and desire.
• The Chariot - Strength, Victory, Willpower, Motivation, Power.
• The Sun - Energy, Masculinity, Vitality, Enlightenment, Confidence.
• King of Wands - Creativity, Inspiration, Passion, Assertion, Boldness, Charisma.
• The Magician - Manifestation, Action, Concentration, Knowledge, Power.

After you’ve added it all together, give it three soft up-down shakes (to symbolize creation), and place the tarot cards in front of the finished product. These cards are to bring in the necessary manifested identities which you’ll wish to embody. Pray to these cards and imagine their identities becoming the oil. Put the oil blend on an altar in a cauldron or a place to ground out, become created, and sit to exist and become. Rub this oil on your forehead each morning, or your wrists if you’re using your hands. Put it wherever you desire.

On my parchment paper label, I actually cut out on one side several alternating triangles so that when I put the label on the bottle, it looked like a crown to symbolize the King of Wands’ crown.

Necessities

• Mortar and Pestle
• Sea salt
• Sage (Salvia Officinalis)
• Lavender buds (Lavandula Officinalis)
• Cedar leaves (Cedrus)
• “Seeds of Love” (African resin)
• Strawberry leaves (Fragari x Ananasa)
• Spearmint oil (Mentha Spicata)
• Patchouli oil (Pogostemon cablin)

Grind it all up and enjoy! It will smell very, very, very delicious and pleasant. The “seeds of love” is unfortunately something I cannot explain much as it was a special resin that I bought from a local store who claimed it was an African herb composite that women would toss into the flames to make their bodies fertile for childbearing. This symbolism is powerful in manifestation. If you cannot find these, add in some amazing patchouli oil or leaves!

Wish Powder is used universally for all magical intentions in prayer, healing, gift receiving, giving, hoping, and manifestation. Sprinkle some over a threshold to allow good spirits in, burn some in a cauldron with cinnamon to get that job, carry some with you for good luck, or add it to a bath to enjoy profound healing. It’s all limitless.

The Clouds ~ Cedargrass Oracle

That which moves us, the weather, the origins of the sky, that which brings down rains that not only erodes the land into new forms, but also waters the seeds of our worldly dreams. This is the great father sky who brings paternal love in the form of encouragement and that windy push that we often need. The Clouds remind us that we may not be in control of the weather without, but we are in control of the weather within— is it raining, storming, hailing, thundering, peaceful/calm, foggy, moist/damp, disastrous/violent, windy, or creative? We decide what we do in this world by our thoughts, so as spiritual beings, we attempt to manifest this inner world into our outer world. We cannot control what is beyond our grasp without first settling the storm within.

When we attempt to change the world outside of us as a means to obtain our worldly riches/dreams, we become spiritually, mentally, & emotionally ill, we stagnate, and depress when our dreams don’t exactly come into manifested fruition. Why is that? Well, the lesson here is in our energy source. You cannot operate in changing the world outside to better suit your dreams by changing the world outside with your own energy, this causes dysfunction because you cannot control nature. By trying to change the outside world to change the outside world, this only changes the world within, thus we are weathered and in a negative way. But when we change the world within, the weather within changes to become more favorable, thus we can now focus on using our thoughts to manifest into the physical plane, thus as our physical world changes by perspective, the weather of that world also changes, allowing our dreams to finally be fertilized and reaped after a time for growing.

See, the state of the world creates the weather and also how we view the world in return by how stormy or calm the weather is. If we calm the world/weather within by healing, we can then convert mental to physical. One should not try to convert physical to physical, this exhausts us, thus converting physical to mental in a negative way.

Background

Cedargrass Oracle is a curious and intuitive project of creating my own oracle cards from the inner intuition of my own guidance and soul path. They will be printed, packaged, and sold in person as well as in an online store. These details will be later advertised.

For all purposes, for all reasons. It will protect you from onslaught, retaliation, dark magic, negative forces, entities, and anything with the intention for the ruining of you or your life. This mojo bag requires blood as feeding, so please be safe, use sterile equipment, and sanitize yourself properly. You will be working with poisonous plants.

Requirements

• White cloth, or a piece of an old white tee shirt,
• Rosemary leaves, dried or fresh,
• Cedar leaves, dried or fresh,
• Sage, ground leaves,
• Foxglove leaves, dried or fresh,
• Valerian root, dried
• Parchment paper,
• Sea salt,
• Black string,
• Your own hair,
• Optional witches bottle,
• Cauldron, wooden bowl, pencil, wand, spoon, knife,
• Smudge wand or sacred water,
• Cedarwood essential oil,
• Rosemary essential oil,
• Pine essential oil,
• Small Rosequartz and Hematite crystal.

Smudge everything and the space you are using or bless all with sacred/holy water.

In your wooden bowl, spoon in foxglove leaves (will stop the heart if ingested, keep track of all quantities). Drop in valerian root, some of your hair, and cover completely the ground sage over everything in the bowl.

Foxglove to protect me from all dark workings, entities, and forces that are placed before my path or try to afflict me. Should these entities come for the ruin of my path, they will be deflected by the sting of its mercilessness.

Valerian Root to ward off with its stench all darkness that seeks for the ruin of my path, my health, my life, and all things dear to me.

My hair to declare as the being who will be protected.

With your wand, weave these sigils, but you may weave your own for your own purposes. Weave the symbols from North, East, South, and West in a quad-seal formation of Neptune (trident; astrology symbol), Thor (thurisaz), Mother Earth (pentacle), and ChoKuRei (reiki seal for power/protection). In the center put the Ankh, as you will be bringing the mojo bag to life.

Many teach that one should not mix pantheons and symbols together, but I practice theosophy in that I believe in the inter-connected-ness of all consciousness and the experiences, symbols, cultures, faiths, and beliefs of all.

After this, with your wand, imagine a beam of white light coming from the bowl into the sky and then pure white light energy coming down unto it. Imagine a merkaba coming down from the sky, through your ceiling (if indoors), and place it into the bowl’s ingredient. Give this bowl life and put in your intentions for protection. Speak life into it,

I make this a vessel of my protection. Neptune, Thor, Mother Earth, ChoKuRei, and Ankh,

Protect me. Protect me. Protect me.

Now that this is prepared, set it aside and place down your cloth, 6x6” should be good. On the square cloth (square for stability), drop down your essential oils,

Rosemary to repel. Pine to cloak me. Cedarwood to banish.

On the corners of the cloth, with a black/gray sharpie, draw the protective symbols and the ankh in the center. Place down a layer of ground sage and then a layer of sea salt.

Get your cauldron out, use your wand to dispel any previous energy from it if it hasn’t been smudged, and lay down a layer of ground sage. On a piece of parchment paper, write out your intentions, I’ll give a few examples,

1. Protect me from _____. Disallow any of their workings, good and/or bad to affect me. Take what they send to me and send it back to them. May anything directed at me from _____ search for all eternity so long as it exists, for it cannot get me.

2. I am working tonight in a bad area. Provide protection from the dark forces at hand and any unluckiness, violence, or misfortune. Protect me tonight while I am walking to and from work from my car.

3. Protect my mother who is ill. Disallow any negative energies to further decline her health. Take her sickness and place it deep into the earth to be cleansed. Shall she be well soon.

Take this parchment paper and burn it in the cauldron. Once the ashes have cooled, placed them along with the other contents of the cloth and dump the contents of the bowl onto the cloth also.

Ask upon the protection of your witches bottle, if you have decided to use one that you have made. This energy should be directed using your hand and making a connection from your heart to the bottle to the mojo bag.

Take now your knife and make a small cut on your pinky for blood, this will heal in a week. Dab your blood carefully as not to touch any of the contents on the back side of the cloth, or you may drop it midair on top of it all. You might also like to try making your mouth very dry by sucking on and swallowing your saliva and abrasively flossing a tooth. Collect the blood that appears on a q-tip or swab and dab it on the mojo bag.

Place in your crystals, speak,

Rosequartz to act out of purest intention and love.

Hematite to assist and ensure darkness has been grounded from me.

String the bag up and place it in your cauldron to allow for time to awaken and come to life. This could take an entire night. You may bury it by a pine tree that you have made a pact with to protect you until it is dug up, or you may keep it on your altar and feed it monthly with oils, or you may keep it with your witches bottle and have the bottle feed the mojo bag on its own.

Remember, these bags are extensions of your spirit and must be fed. There are many ways to feed them, oils, bodily fluids, perfumes, alcohol, and herbs.

Happy protection-mojo-bag-making and stay in the light, always! :)

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Got an old room that needs cleaning, moving out from a home or an apartment, looking to do some etheric dusting after poor company left their baggage in your home, need an idea for Spring cleaning and Fall cleaning for next year, looking to part with emotional ties to objects and spaces? Here’s a great idea modified from a good friend of mine.

Sage (smudging), Rosemary (warding off evil), Cedar (purification), and Pine (protection) are four of my favorites for healing, protection, energetic banishment, exorcism of negative energy (not to be confused with the exorcism of demons or negative entities, typically poisonous plants are used for this), feng shui, purification, absolving emotional residue, and cleansing. I love them as dearly as any earth-dweller would, so I thought I’d share this homemade cleanser, not cleaner, because those commercial products are polluting our homes and spirits.

The bad thing about most cleaners is that they’re horrible for the environment, you, pets, and others. Borax is so much better, heck, you could just use sea salt, lemon juice, and some essential oils to make a true green cleaner, but borax is such a useful compound. You can use it to make dish detergent, laundry detergent, and of course, cleaning soaps. And like anything designated as a cleaner, green or not, never ingest it or allow it to come inside the body.

The second bad thing about cleaners is that they often only kick around energy, rather cleanse/absolve it completely and get rid of it, and almost everybody forgets about those walls and the ceiling, which a clean ceiling is vital to receiving that which comes from above, and of course, clean floors for that which comes from below. The walls and majorly the low and high corners of any room collects the most negativity. It’s so important to always run sage or frankincense in the corners of rooms once a month.

Ceilings and walls are often never dirty-dirty to the naked eye, but to the trained eye, they collect much dust over the years, and to the trained psychic, they collect energy too, lots of it, and so do the things in those rooms. As we know, dust, dirt, and filth accumulate and procure an environment for bacteria and mites and other microscopic pests that cause us sickness and dis-ease, especially carpets. It’s always important to vacuum carpets once a week, at least once a month for those who aren’t able to clean frequently. I get it, right now, you’re probably listing several very understanding excuses for the reasons behind a lack of cleaning, but that’s ok.

So long as you’re smudging at least once a week or once a month, and it can be so beneficial in even just walking around each room with frankincense and doing the whole home in 5 minutes. Anything helps, and as a witch, it is our responsibility to have an energetically clean home, and a physically clean home. Our rooms, our home, it is our sanctuary, and like a temple, we must respect it.

So instead of abusing that temple with polluting commercialized cleaners that just aren’t toxic-free, make your own, and enjoy the killing of two birds with one stone of cleansing and cleaning at the same time.

The quality of our environments both personally and impersonally directly correlates to the quality of our mood, spirit, stamina, longevity, and health. So smudge, cleanse, clean, ground, relax, and find peace; this is vital especially given the toxic world that we live in today.

Rosemary and Sage Scrub, heavily modified from Nicole Bedy’s original tea scrub for walls.

1. Varied amount of fresh or dried rosemary, sage, and/or cedar/pine,
2. Water, 2-3 cups distilled or purified,
3. Borax, 3-4 tablespoons,
4. Sea salt, 2-3 tablespoons,
5. Lemon juice or oil, whole lemon or 5-10 drops oil,
6. Container, plastic spray bottle or jar for storage,
7. Sharpie or label for ingredients as warning for safety,

Boil water on the stove, steep the sage and rosemary leaves, allow to naturally cool. While it steeps, sing this chant here and there to encourage the little beauties to bring out their peaceful and cleansing energies.

Blessed this, O Sage and Mary,

Olden space, anew by what I carry,

Energy absolved by friends so merry,

Walls and floors to welcome Fairies,

Thanks to Rose and Meadow Clary.

Pour the tea into a container and mix in the borax, lemon juice, and sea salt. Blow into the mixture the breath of life, asking this mixture with your spirit to serve your purpose. Give a soft prayer if you may. When in need, pour into a bowl with rags to scrub, or use as a spray if you have a spray bottle.

Happy dusting, cleansing, scrubbing, and absolving that old stagnant energy!