The After-Samhain planning . . .

It has been a long while since I've made it back to this blog. I never meant to leave it so long, but life can be quite . . . playful, we'll say.

Today, the sun is blindingly bright here in Southwest Ohio, giving a false sense of warmth outside. But, it's still very chilly, whatever the sun might try to make us believe.

If you haven't already, be sure to make notes in your BOS of your Samhain ritual and any spellworking. Be sure to note your feelings, what worked, and what didn't. You will need them for next year.

Now that Samhain is behind us, we have the prospect of an entire year to plan for - and many new joys to welcome with it.

It's time to get started!

If you haven't done so already, this is the time to scout about for things to fill up your cabinets from things you'll find outside:

• Oak leaves
• Acorns
• Ivy
• Pine Cones (if there are any left lying around by this time)
• Fallen bark (useful for altars and many other things)
• Fallen tree limbs (handle replacements, primarily, and smaller pieces are useful for wands, if they feel right to you, or are from a desired tree)

In addition to the gifts from the earth, now is a good time to scout the after-Halloween sales and the beginnings of the winter baking sales;

• Black candles (candles of all sorts, actually)
• Cookie cutters (moon, star, cauldron, etc. Unusual shapes you won't easily find the rest of the year)
• Apples (I dry the slices)
• Seeds - apple and pumpkin (very potent symbols for the altar and in spells)
• Cinnamon - powdered and in stick form. Stick is best for me, as I just grate what I want when I want it.
• Cloves, Nutmeg - Once again, I prefer whole, but I also stay stocked on powdered for the days I find myself short on time or arm-muscle to use the zester to powder them.
• Sage, Sometimes you can find huge bags of sage leaves near Thanksgiving - these are invaluable for smudging and incense making.
• Craft Stores, before and after Halloween can be a boon to your cupboard stocking. Look for unusual items that may be incorporated in future rituals or Altar decorations such as feathers, representational faux gemstones (for color magic) jars, bottles and corks to name just a few things.

While some might find it odd to get many of your ritual and altar supplies from a local grocery or craft store, I say that it is sometimes necessary, and it is quite useful. Yes, you could buy your cinnamon sticks from an online witch retailer for $9.99 for a bundle of four sticks, or you can buy the same bundle at the grocery store for $5.99, and save the $4.00 difference to throw back into the Witch Kitty to buy something else. 

I am no authority, but I'm pretty sure the Goddess isn't going to mind that you procured your cinnamon sticks from Kroger rather than the Mystical and Magical Brass Badger's online witch shop. 

(I really hope there is no online store called the Mystical and Magical Brass Badger . . . I mean no harm if there is!)

It is also time to begin preparing for Yule.

I know - you're thinking you just made it through Samhain - whew! You need a breather, right?

Nope.

Start looking for these things in the stores, and especially when they're on sale:

• Oils - peppermint, bayberry, juniper, neroli, cedar fir and pine.
• You'll probably only find the peppermint in higher grade, and the others will likely be for scent only, but they can still be quite useful to you. Much of my heightened sense comes from the scents I use around me. You decide for yourself.
• Candles 
• At Christmastime, I can find gold and silver candles that are harder to find the rest of the year.
• Red, Green, Blue and and White candles - this is the time to stock up!
• Bags of pine cones (for those with no access to find them naturally)
• Real Mistletoe (Hard to find in stores, but I can usually find it where they sell live trees)
• Unusual Altar items
• Looking for the perfect chalice? You'll find stunningly beautiful, single stemware this time of year - and usually on sale!
• Candle holders - same as the stemware - unusual, beautiful, and on sale!
• Nuts - useful year round for the altar and in spells. Walnut shells are particularly useful if you boil them to make the dark, sepia tinted type of ink.

There are hundreds of items to be on the lookout for - these lists will hopefully whet your imagination. The upcoming Christmas season provides a bonanza of things - typically on sale - that you can use all year long. 

One last word: Don't buy these things that I've mentioned unless - A) You know you need them and will be using them, B) You find them at a good price, and C) You have the funds for them. 

Never buy things off of lists unless you have a plan for it. In my early years, I DID buy things that were on lists I saw - these people knew what they were talking about, right? I'd need these things, right? 

Nope. Maybe 50% of it covered things I'd actually need through the year. Some things are pretty universal - the candles, the nature items from outdoors . . . but juniper berries or cedar oil? You might never need or want those. Get them if you will use them. If you aren't sure, let your checkbook make the choice for you. Some things I've bought without knowing if I'd use them - but I made sure I used them - because I had them. 

You also need to remember you don't have to buy much of anything - ever. Any candle will do if you need it to. Most of the "herbs" I used in the early years were what I had in my kitchen cabinet - and I had good results. Never buy the froo-froo if you don't have the money - and don't let anyone tell you that you *NEED* this or that, or something won't work. 

The real power is always in the witch - not the things she uses.

Now . . . to prepare the Yule ritual, incense and oils, if you haven't already. That will be in the next post! 

Gathering

As I said yesterday, I would be out gathering things to stock in my cupboards. Oak leaves and Ivy and most herbs are well within the reach of anyone - apartment dwellers, tight-budgeted individuals, etc.

I told you I had *mini* oak trees. I do. Here's one of them that gave me a few leaves today. Perfect color this year!

When we planted them this particular little oak was exactly three feet tall. I measure them every year.

I just measured the trees again this morning. (ignore the grass that needs cut. You can see some of the ivy and my cat Merlin in the window in the back of the photo)

This guy is now a WHOPPING 3 feet, 1.25 inches! WOO HOO! 

After six years - it's grown a whole 1.25 inches! YEAH!  Yeah - I need to get out and weed, prune, etc. All in good time, folks. All in good time. Like, probably next spring. haha.

Now.. I mentioned yesterday that there is little in a suburban neighborhood that will send your neighbors in foaming at the mouth fits quite like letting ivy grow on your brick. Believe me. It's true. Here's a picture of the ivy that has been growing for about five years on the north side of the house: (and yes, more plants and, of course, my cat Merlin, in the window)

 

According to suburban law, it would completely be within my neighbor's rights to drag me from my house in the middle of the night, strip me naked, whip me until dawn, then set me afire on a bonfire woven with all that ivy - freshly pulled down by the neighbors themselves.

Here's how the conversation with my neighbors go. Every year. Yep. EVERY YEAR we have this conversation.

Neighbor: You know, I don't mean to butt in or anything, but... you do know that the ivy is going to destroy your brick, right?

Me: Really? Who says? 

Neighbor: So and so on that gardening program on television. 

Me: Huh. Well, I guess they don't make 'em like they used to. 

Neighbor: What?

Me: You know. The brick. And mortar. I guess the people hundred of years ago made brick and mortar better by hand with whatever materials were local than we can make it today. Or even a hundred years ago. Obviously, so and so from that tv program never went to Harvard. Or Princeton. Or Cornell...

Neighbor:  What does their college education have to do with anything? (by this point, they usually have a vague sense I've set them up for a classic Copperhead strike, but can't figure it out)

Me: Nothing. But, if we concede that my brick is about to crumble anyday from some ivy growing on it, we should be worrying about our great University buildings - which have been covered for 150 years or more in... IVY. And all those medieval buildings over in Europe - why do you suppose they haven't tumbled to dust yet? 

Neighbor: ummmm.....

Yeah. We basically have that conversation, or some variation thereof EVERY YEAR. Sometimes I'll ask when will my brick be destroyed. They'll say like... in a 100 years. Then I ask them if they really think I'm going to be around to care.  We go round and round. Sooner or later, they'll figure out that I'm not going to give up my ivy. Tooooo bad.

So... here is what I've harvested so far:

It isn't much, but I will harvest a few more times - I only take a small amount each time, and I always ask first and leave a gift. I think it's a fair deal. (I harvested more oak leaves, but they were in the basket still)

Hopefully later this weekend, it will be acorns and the rosemary - and maybe more happy finds along the way.

      

Harvesting

All the focus right now is of course, on Samhain.

For me, this means a last minute wild dash to check our small oak trees outside - are they the perfect color to pick some leaves for my altar? In my case - YES!

So this weekend I will be busy collecting several things on my Stock the Cabinet list.

• Oak leaves - in full color
• Acorns (my oaks are still babies, but I know a few nearby parks with some ancient oaks and a plethora of acorns to be had!)
• Trimming the ivy growing up the side of my house. (Nothing can send your cookie-cutter, new-home-suburban neighbors wilder than letting ivy grow on your brick house. More on that in another post)
• Harvesting the last of the herbs that have held on - most notably my potted rosemary outside. 

That's enough for this weekend with all the other commitments that we have on our calendar. It seems like a lot, but it isn't very time consuming. The oaks, the ivy and the herbs are outside my door - 30 minutes tops for everything. The trip to a nearby park can be a quick stop while on our way to the grocery this weekend. Another 20 minute stop. So, less than an hour's worth of 'work' for a year's worth of stocked items.

I will be on the lookout for black candles this year, as always - but I have to say something about purchasing black candles at Halloween.

They are almost never solid black candles. And you can't always tell until you burn them.

Making solid black wax is very dye-intensive. I know, because that's what I've resorted to doing for the last decade or so. Most of the black candles you will find at big box retailers will be white candles dipped in a couple coatings of wax. They also typically smell like black licorice or nothing at all. Choosing the scent is another perk to making the candle yourself.

If you have no other alternative - use them. I have many years, and have had no adverse affects. I know some out there will howl like hungry wolves on a winter's night about this, but I am not one of them. I've faced the reality of very limited funds and even fewer options to buy a black candle.

If you do find a solid black candle at a local store, I would highly advise you to buy all your finances and storage space will allow. Don't assume that they will carry them again next year - I made that mistake. I went back to *x* retailer that had fabulously rich solid black candles the year before (I noted it in my BOS) and without inspecting them too closely, I bought a year's worth of those candles from that same vendor. I walked out of there feeling like I'd hit the lottery.

I had planned. I had saved up. Look at me go! All organized and frugal. Yeah.

(que the disappointing wah-wah-sound here)

You guessed it. They had changed those candles to the black-dipped variety. So there I was with a year's worth of black-dipped candles, an empty *Witch Kitty Account* (my term for the money I squirrel away for my magical supplies) and Samhain looming in front of me.

You'd better believe I used those candles. You can, too. Honest. It isn't preferable, but if you have no choice, do what you can. Intent is always your biggest ally. Always.