#the state of elminx

[elminx]

What I've Been Up To

In a word, super busy. (shhh...that's two words...I know...I KNOW!)

It's the busy season here in Southern New England; by that, I mean harvest season. My first real harvest of the year was sour cherries, which my partner and I picked last weekend.

These are from my friend's (now wild) cherry trees. I think that they are some cultivar of Prunus virginiana, though one can never be sure. S has been living in the house for about 8 years and has always "meant" to pick the cherries growing in his backyard. Now, we make it happen every year. I've been working with Wild Cherry Bark as part of my bitters projects, but I hadn't realized until now that this is the same plant. So neat!

My first project was to add some cherry to the ongoing lemonade experiments I have conducted weekly all summer. I added the cherries directly to the lemon peel phase (you can read more about lemonade making here), and it turned my lemonade into the most beautiful shades of orange and pink. I also made a wonderful cherry cake in a cast iron skillet and am in the process of experimenting with cherry syrup, cherry whipped cream, and a stone fruit vodka infusion - stay tuned for more on those as it evolves!

This cherry journey has been a pretty deep dive into herbalism (a long-time favorite), Chemistry, Ethnobotany, and even a little bit of Phytotoxilogy since the seeds of cherries (and other stone fruits) contain Amygdalin, which is poisonous to humans in high doses. I wanted to study medicine (I ended up with a minor in Biology because I legit qualified for it without having to do a thing), so this kind of shit is pretty up my alley.

I'm also deeply into continuing to work with these cherry pits because it is using all of the fruit which is something that I strongly believe in as a part of my craft.

I also picked (and froze) about 8 lbs. of blueberries yesterday afternoon. The time was right. My partner had the day off, and we don't celebrate Fireworks Day. I found the cutest local farm that does blueberries and raspberries that's only about 15 minutes from my house. Plus, picking under a giant bird netting made me feel like I was in Jurassic Park, so 10/10 on the place's vibes.

I'm not done with Cherry yet, though. I joked yesterday that I can't cross the streams, but it is so true. One of my more well-used preservation books has a whole section on cherries - both sweet and sour - and I want to make every single recipe. She even has a recipe for using your brandied cherries to make cornish hens and I am dying to try that (though probably with chicken). I don't think I can get any more sour cherries from S, but most of my local farms have pick-your-own or it for sale at their stands currently.

On the docket for today: set up my dehydrator for the summer season. (honestly, it is slightly past time)

I'm also still chugging away at my astrology commissions. I'm almost entirely caught up - I have an unusual transit report to write and one more natal birth chart to do, and things will return to normal.

I'm also looking at Mercury, who is going to retrograde on 8/5. I should have a transit report for the retrograde out soon and will offer a handful of commissions ($12 each) for anyone who wants a more personalized read on how the retrograde will interact with your chart. (Message me if you are interested or tip me $12 to save a spot if there's not already a commission offering for this when you read this).

I am still working my way through writing about violets and rose syrup. Watch for those—they are coming!

[elminx]

The State of Elminx

Tred, unmotivated. It's too hot (heat indexes well over 95f all week, and we don't have central air).

My partner returned home last night with the realization that they bought decaf beans last time...which explains the lack of motivation and headaches all week long.

I've actually gotten a lot done, considering.

[elminx]

Elminx's Gratitude Ritual for the Aquarius Full Moon, August 1, 2023

This is a simple ritual designed to magnify the things that you are already grateful for in your life and send them out into the universe so that they can be multiplied and returned to you. It does not need any fancy supplies though it can be augmented for further power by any number of objects. Here we are using some basic astrology and numerology to further enhance the already strong energy of the super moon in Aquarius.

The Astrology

Tomorrow's full moon falls at 09° Aquarius, making no significant aspects (other than the assumed Sun-Moon opposition) to other planetary bodies. Additionally, Mercury in Virgo will be opposed to retrograde Saturn in Pisces, adding oomph and a bit of weight to the day, and Mars in Virgo will be trine to Jupiter in Taurus.

We are using the energy of Mars and Jupiter's trine in Earth signs to amplify the energy of our abundance. Both Taurus and Virgo are lush signs that like to enjoy life - Virgo season is harvest season, what are you harvesting this year?

It is worth noting that many Wiccans celebrate 8/1 as Lamas, the first harvest in the Wheel of the Year. If that's a part of your practice, you can bring that energy to this ritual as well.

The Numerology

8/1 carries the energy of the Number 8 which represents the circle of life and having to ride its ups and downs and the Number 1 which is the number of beginnings. What you do on the first sets the tone for the month ahead - we are going to set a tone of gratitude.

I am using the symbol of the ouroboros or infinity sign which is the number 8 laid on its side to symbolize sending out energy that cycles through life and returns to us.

The Breathwork

I am going to add a bit of breathwork to this ritual which will aid in the visualization of the ouroboros - if this is uncomfortable for you, you can absolutely skip it.

The Ritual

You will Need 1 piece of paper A Writing Utensil

Find yourself a quiet space where you will not be deserved. This can be at an altar or other sacred space, but I suggest doing here whatever is most likely to encourage you toward a state of gratitude. You could go out into the forest or find a quiet space by a tree in the park. Maybe this is sitting in the middle of your garden or with headphones on a busy subway. I really encourage you to follow your intuition with this.

On the paper list eight things you are grateful for in your life right now. They don't have to be grand adventures - sometimes the thing that I am the most grateful for is the way that my cat chirped at me in the morning. As you do this, focus your energy on the center of your chest. This is where gratitude lives - gratitude creates a warm fuzzy buzz in that area of the body. We are looking to make that energy grow.

There are a lot of ways to do this, but here I want to focus on breathwork. With your mind's eye, see a ball of glowing light in the center of your chest. Sometimes this light is perceived as being green or pink, but if you see a different color that is okay too. You might not see color at all, you may just begin to feel the energy pulsating from that area of your body. If you don't see or feel anything, that's okay - you can continue this exercise with the assumption that it is working or try something else.

If you can perceive this energy ball in the center of your chest, begin to notice the way that it grows as you take a breath in and contract as you breathe out. Take any number of breaths until you start to feel like you understand this motion. Then, on your next breath out, focus on sending that ball of light - and the gratitude attached to it - out of your body as if you are giving it to the room that you are in. Then, as you breathe in, breathe in new gratitude that is coming from the room that you are in. You can try to visualize this as an ouroboros shape with your breathing in being the high point in the figure eight (faced towards you) and your breathing out being the low point.

Ideally, we would like to repeat this breath eight times: breathing in gratitude from the world and breathing out gratitude as a gift to the world. If you can, breathe from your heart; if you don't understand what that means, that is okay, too. If this is a new technique to you, it may take some time to get it right - focus on learning it more than the number of times you breathe.

You can hold the paper in your hands while you breathe or tuck it into your shirt so that it sits against your heart.

When this feels complete to you, come back to your piece of paper. Draw a large ouroboros symbol across your writing and fold the paper up. You should keep it throughout the month of August - you could tuck it into a notebook, put it on an altar, or sleep with it under your pillow. If you need a reminder of good things, you can come back to the paper and read it and perform the ritual again. Or, better yet, if you find new things to be grateful for, you could add them to the list as the month goes on.

On September 1st, you can perform this ritual again to reinvigorate your gratitude or dispose of the paper in any way that feels right to you.

Extras

There are a lot of ways to add some oomph this spell.

The most obvious one is candle magic. You could choose a single candle to burn while performing this ritual or charge a candle during this ritual that you burn afterward (like - for the next eight days!). You could charge your paper with eight tealight candles around it - this one is a great alternative to the breath method if you weren't comfortable with that. You could burn a birthday candle in the shape of the number 8.

If you're a crafty witch, you could build yourself a gratitude box either by making one yourself or decorating something pre-made with things that you are grateful for. Keep it close and keep adding things that represent what you are grateful for to your box.

Furthering the energy of the number 8, you could perform this ritual every day for 8 days starting on 8/1 and ending on 8/8 which has doubled 8 energy attached to it.

You could boost the energy of the spell by casting it at the peak of the full moon - check your local ephemeris to find out when that would be for your time zone. Or, you could boost it by casting during the Hour of Jupiter. (if you do the latter, I would suggest giving an offering to Jupiter for empowering your work)

To combat some of the poor energy of the Venus retrograde, you could charge a rose quartz necklace with your breath of gratitude and wear it throughout the month ahead. This will work as a reminder to come back to your heart and to the practice of being present for the good things in your life.

I have kept this ritual super simple so that you can add any touches that are personal to you and your practice.

Do you like my work? You can support me by tipping me here or on Kofi, or by purchasing an astrology report.

[elminx]

The State of Elminx

In a phrase, mid-project with pretty much everything in my life.

We're reaching peak harvest season for the farm share, so several hours every week are spent separating, washing, preparing, and preserving vegetables for the winter ahead. We got a pint of tomatoes last week, which was joined this week by four heirlooms and a quart of salad tomatoes. And this is only the beginning!

Sometimes, the farm share tomatoes stretch into September. Most of the tomatoes in the fields are still green, so I had to hunt out the tell-tale glow of the sun golds.

I'm dreaming about tomato confit and tomato pie, and I'm starting to salivate about tomato soup (I really want red peppers for that) and late-season farm share lasagna. This is my favorite time of year (at least culinarily). I will also have a few more tomato recipes to share very soon.

I'm also working more on numerology, drinking my weight in magic lemonade (this time with lavender!), and I've got a very experiment jar of hot honey infusing on my kitchen table. I'm also dreaming about fish tacos with a fresh Verde sauce, and blueberry sauce is still on my to-do list.

It's hard not to want to spend every second of my time outside or in the kitchen.

I'm also gathering and drying herbs and freezing rose hips for future witching once the weather becomes more tolerable for stovetop kitchen projects.

In other words, I'm all over the place. There are two many projects to be accomplished simultaneously, but I want to collect them all.

[elminx]

Busy season is busy, Dearest Tumbles.

I'm here, just heavily distracted at times. I've got a lot of "work stuff" on my plate and an equal number of fun witchy projects that I want to be working on.

I have been overbooking myself like crazy but it's okay because (right now) I'm not feeling overwhelmed and getting angry with myself when I, inevitably, can't get everything done. It's also HOT (I'm a New Englander and 40-70 is my comfort zone) and my body doesn't seem to be handling that very well anymore.

I really need to get out and buy some Everclear for my two tinctures and get my oil infusion started for salve-making (the second will keep, of course, since you need to should dry herbs before you infuse them anyway).

Anyway, enjoy a photo of the beautiful bouquet from my farm share this week - this was our first week that the seasonal flowers were fully open and I'm. in. love.

[elminx]

A week in my life

Life feels a little messy of late. August passed with a mere whisper and we're on to Autumn. Yes, I know - the Autumnal equinox is still weeks away but here in Southern New England, the seasons shift quickly. The days have been dark and rainy. The perfect moody atmosphere for some cottage witchcraft.

It's harvest time so everything has a hint of hustle to it. With all of this rain, the crops are overladen with water and not keeping well. I've been working with tomato, tomatillo, peach, and pear. The flavors run together, a mix of Summer and Autumn. I make my first cup of spiced tea for the season.

My friend gave me pears from his backyard trees so I am trying a new-to-me recipe. We've been canning, freezing, and oil preserving the last of the tomato crop with a mixture of sadness and glee. Half of my peaches went bad on my kitchen table because there are only so many hours in which to work in the kitchen.

I am trying to get better at photographing my craft. Too often I reach for my phone out of ease but I own a real camera for a reason. Everything spirals inwards even more.

The seasons march on relentlessly. We cleanse and then we protect. Gray has a new space and we welcome it with fresh energy and flowers from our later summer gardens.

I am here but things are just a little bit messy. In a good kind of way. Lots of magic afoot - lots of reconnection, change, and wonderfulness.

[elminx]

The State of Elminx, mid July 2021

My mind has been all over the place for months (this is not abnormal for me - my Venus is in Gemini). I don't really remember what projects I thought to share with you and which I might have kept to myself for privacy reasons.

I'm a very experimental witch and I love trying new things. A lot of them fail. Because I work in the kitchen, a lot of them fail in taste - they don't end up the sensorial experience that I wanted them to be. If the season and the scope of the project allows for it, I like to make whatever it is in my mind at least once in a more "mundane" fashion - just focused on the crafting. Then, if it comes out well, I replicate - one more with magic.

It doesn't always work out. My peony jelly didn't set correctly and I couldn't figure out a way to mix my violet vodka and violet syrup together in a way that I was willing to drink it.

But there have also been a few extreme wins. My blueberry violet switchel is absolutely divine. I made a mugwort-based dream elixir that I've had very nice results with. I have successful potions (spirit-based, of course) for both Road Opening and Abundance. Although I ultimately enjoyed it, I have mixed feelings about the Ginger Bug - it was not a good luck potion (maybe I'll write about that some other time).

I have really opened up my energy to the world around me. I set an intention that the plants in my ecosystem who wish to work with me make themselves known. Eastern White Pine was the first but not unexpected. And I've made friends with a strange old Norweigan Spruce in my cemetery who wants me to call him Grampa. All of the juniper in my environment has been creating berries aplenty for the first time in the eight years I've walked around these neighborhoods.

Broadleaf plantain took up residence in my reclaimed garden. I keep finding chickory plants in all of the dingles.

I live in an old mill town built on the sands surrounding an estuary to the biggest river in New England. This town has been here a long time and it's thickly settled but the wet places remain wet places and are decidedly wild. I know that neither the mugwort nor the Scottish thistle belongs here but they tell me that they have been here longer than I, and that is worth something.

My second-year garden has come back surprisingly strong - my partner and I did well in choosing our hearty New England perennials. We planted as many natives as would survive in our sandy full to partial sun bakes in the summer heat garden and those have thrived best of all. My Sea Holly brings all the bees to the yard - no for real, I have never seen so many types of pollinators.

Plus, a monarch!

I'm even working on all of my endangered butterflies - we planted our native lupin to help those guys out too. I will leave this garden better than I found it.

There's other stuff going on magically too, things I'm less sure about sharing with whoever might read this. I hope if you are, this finds you well.

[elminx]

The State of Elminx, part 2,450

July was better than June and for that alone, I am incredibly grateful. Eclipse season and Mercury retrograde kicked my ass. There have been times in the past when having a hard go of things would have kept me down and out for a long-ass time. I'm pleased to say that I recovered nicely.

I credit strawberries for a lot of that if we're being honest. As a green witch, I'm very keen to work with seasonal fruit and strawberries are our early Summer standout here in Southern New England. Dora and I picked 17 pounds of strawberries which became simple syrup, jam, and 5 gallons of strawberry wine.

Additionally, I am in the process of making a very experimental 1/2 gallon batch of rhubarb mead.

My Summer garden has been a stunning success. All of my New England perennials love this intense mixture of sunshine and then torrential rains - even my baby white sage plants (that are obviously not a New England perennial) are thriving. Plus, monarchs!

The weather has been very pleasant for Summer (I'm not over-fond of the heat) which has allowed for a lot of time outside. I had to travel North to go to a memorial service and got to spend some time at a beautiful garden cemetery in the mountains. I came home feeling very connected.

I did some magic but not much of which I'm willing to talk about here. All of it was fairly normal "routine maintenance" magic - nothing extraordinary or new.

I've been working with Vegvisir throughout July with great success. I even stumbled upon a cat cafe in my travels north. I have also been working closely with obsidian. I received a set of prayer beads made mostly from obsidian - a gift that I had no idea that I wanted or needed in my life.

Though I have been focused more on the green witch side of my practice, my chthonic work pulled my attention back again and again. The memorial that I went to was in a section of a beautiful old cemetery reserved for natural burials - where my friend has lain for months now, wildflowers are springing up out of the ground. She was present in every bit of wind that wandered through our hair as her partner played his ukulele for her.

The way that we care for our dead and the toll that it has on our environment is something that weighs on me. I am pleased to find natural burials to be every bit as wonderful as I imagined them to be.

Then, too, there is Possum. I found possum by accident - it's more truthful to say that I found a Turkey Vulture who had found possum. One day there was a very large tail sticking out from behind the graves of my cemetery. Because of its location, I have visited Possum almost every day - I saw the flesh fall away, saw the maggots, and even had to make a wide berth due to its smell. Now Possum is a pile of bones that we lovingly collected and hung outside on our porch in an onion bag.

Everything is life and death. My hibiscus plant grows large white and pink flowers while a possum rots on the edge of a cemetery. We relentless march towards the end while hopefully making the most of every moment.

[elminx]

The State of Elminx and her (mostly kitchen) projects

This is mostly an accountability post about where I am on my projects.

1. My dream elixir is complete - still tests its efficacy before sharing but it tastes great which is half the battle. 2. I'm on my third batch of Eastern White Pine infused vodka so it is certainly a "win" for my household - still in the process of writing up my Road Opener potion to share but it is coming. Everybody who has drunk it has raved about how fabulous it is. 3. My ginger bug is now in the "making bubbles" stage (in Grolsch bottles) - it smells and tastes great but is far too sugary in its current application so hopefully, it eats some of that sugar to make bubbles.

4. What I couldn't fit into my Grolsch bottles is going to be made into a ginger complex syrup because I'm a waste not kind of witch.

5. I spent all afternoon yesterday outside on the lawn picking violets and dandelions with my tiny coven. I'm trying my hands at making a violet cordial and dandelion jelly (I think).

6. Gray gave me the ingredients to make a "glamour scrub" using matcha and ocean water pearls...interesting though it's supposed to be a face scrub and I'm very hesitant to put something like that on my face because cosmetic chemistry is important.

[elminx]

The State of Elminx, part 2.g352

hello world, it's me, Elminx...

May has been a really intense month (astrologically and personally) but I think that I've kept with it and showed up to get wet.

I tend towards overplanning so I've been practicing the art of working with my own energies and divine timing. Making lists of things that I want to due - both mundane things and magical - and seeing which ones feel right to do in the moment. Trusting that instinct. I am a natural intuitive and a very competent astrologer - this is something that I feel like I should be able to do.

And yet, I always try to force things. I work myself too hard.

I am a double Taurus (Sun and Ascendant) - bulls gotta bull.

Astrologically, May started sweetly and ended with two major retrogrades and an eclipsed blood moon. It's also my birthday month. And there's this virus that people really want to fight about (I'm an empath).

I'm exhausted.

I've also done a lot. We're almost done with our Spring gardening - we've planted our herbs and tender perennials. We've weeded and worked out magics. I did birthday magic, general cottage magic, Mercury retrograde magic, and a bunch of kitchen magic. I went to the beach twice - once for a night on my birthday proper and again for most of the last week with my parents.

It's still rather cold to dunk yourself into the Northern Atlantic but we considered it.

I have been working on becoming more comfortable with water magic. I know it sounds weird, but I understand sea magic but I'm no water witch. Every time that my parents sniped at each other, or said something that triggered me, I tried to wash it away in the spray of the waves. To give it all to the void. If it come back to me on the winds, let it be as something new.

I can be better than that. I can break the cycle of emotional pain and projection.

I don't have to be like them. If this is emotional maturity - I don't like it one bit. It fucking hurts.

Everybody is wounded. This year did all of us in - each in our own ways. Ways that nobody else will ever understand. But its not my job to heal my parents wounds.

It's my job to heal my wounds. I'm getting there. The work will never be over but I'm learning how to do the work in the moment. You know, instead of suppressing it for 15 years until it started to rip me apart.

While I was away, one of my outside spells fell out of a tree but a kind neighbor rescued it and put it by my back porch. I guess that's as good a sign of any as to what I need to work on next. I've been so busy that I haven't even fully looked at the astrology for June yet and its May 30th.

With Mercury in retrograde, that has to be okay. And it is and it will be. But I'm also exhausted and it hurts.

[elminx]

The State of Elminx - 5/4/2020

I think that it’s a good idea to do regular witch check-ins with yourself.   

I could reiterate my goals for 2020 but that seems fairly immaterial at this point.  Sure, I have enough astrology knowledge to understand - deeply - that something was going to happen that made the whole world change...

Still, nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.

A lot of my goals for the year were social.  I isolated for a really long time due to past trauma and as part of the shadow work that I’ve been doing - I’ve really been working on putting myself out there - being seen - even when it feels uncomfortable.  Even when it hurts.  Often when I don’t want to.

I’m lucky and I live in the country so I can still go outside of my house to do more than grocery shop.  I can still visit my cemetery and the woods.  I can still forage for Spring plants and enjoy the eternal awakening.  We planted gardens that has day lily, catnip, chive, echinacea, melissa, oregano, and peppermint in it and have some other baby herbs and marigold in the basement under a grow light.  Plus, I made a new snake plant friend. I had not intended for this year to be about plant magick but my guides have other things in mind for me and I respect that.  Respect the path.  I even won a garden witch box from a Youtuber that I follow. It’s quiet magick but the kind that cannot do anything except deepen my practice.  

I also feel deeply in love with Purple Dead-nettle this week. I’ve been meaning to keep up with my energy updates but feel like most people probably can’t handle what I have to say about three retrogrades in as many days and a long, hard Summer.   It makes sense to me - that we are going to enter a deep retrograde season - because we all need a chance to sit and sink deep into what we’ve done.

I’m getting in to the car today to go in search of a local farm selling eggs on the side of the road which is just about the most perfect thing that has ever thinged.  I’ve been buying veggies and local cheese from a delivery co-op that’s sprung up in my valley and bought 20lbs worth of local meat from my local butcher.  My Summer farm share will probably start in four weeks. All in all, it will be a very strange Summer.  I am going to miss the beach.  But we will survive and thrive just like my tiny garden.