Emma Kathryn Wild Witchcraft

Well, here we are, the festive no man’s land, that time between Boxing Day and New Year. Is it a cliche to ask what day it is? Perhaps, but true none the less!

I always feel a bit restless at this time. Perhaps it is the disconnect from the normal routines of life, the stuffiness of spending too long indoors, or maybe it’s the aftermath of the festive season. It’s bound to catch up with us sooner or later. Perhaps it’s a combination of all of those things.

My beloved got me some great gifts, the Seed Sistas Poison Prescriptions book and a herb knife from Raven Forge and so I decided to break the festive fuzz by making flying ointment.

If you follow me on social media, then you’ll know I was graced this year by the beautiful belladonna. After many unsuccessful attempts over the years to grow the traditional witches plant from seed, I’d all but given up! But then, in the summer it started growing literally a metre from my front door! So I used some of the dried leaf along with datura and mugwort to craft an ointment.

With Season Songs releasing in the UK on Monday 1st January (it’s already available in the US), it got me thinking about how we use plants, and how they connect us to the land in the most mundane and magical of ways. There’s something to be said of working with plants you have watched grow and develop, that you have taken care of, that you have harvested carefully, perhaps going with moon phases or celestial occurrences. They deepen your craft and understanding, bringing their own knowledge, the subtle energy of spirit.

Then there’s the grounding comfort that comes with the mundane act of preparing herbs, the steady rhythm of the knife, the satisfying grinding. The play of words with the beat and the hiss of the chopping and grinding of the materia magica combine in a tapestry of sound and sensation. Magic indeed, and that’s without even using it. I’ll keep you updated on how that part turns out. But even if flying ointments aren’t your thing, there is deep and powerful magic that comes with working with plants, one that connects us to the land and reminds us we are an active part of the wild tapestry of nature, no matter the time of year.

However you choose to celebrate the new year, may you have a blessed one that brings you peace, comfort and magic!