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Archive for the ‘crafting’ Category

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Each fall brings many opportunities to craft! Magical crafting is one of our favorite activities at SLPS. Each year SLPS gathers sacred sagebrush to make smudge sticks, magical wands, and other crafts with. This year SLPS gathered on the fall equinox, Mabon on Wednesday, September 23, 2015. A little known spot in Big Cottonwood Canyon contains all the sage needed to make smudge sticks for years to come! The little leafed Artemisia Tridentata in Utah is a different variety than the broad leafed of California found in most shops. The little leafed grows all over the North American West. This small leafed kind is even more powerful than the broader leaf, and smells sweeter. Having gathered it ourselves, SLPS can charge the sticks with love, protection, and power.

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Magical Ingredient Gathering 2015, Mabon Sage Smudge Sticks, sagebrush, Wednesday, September 23, 2015, Big Cottonwood Canyon, UT

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Magical Ingredient Gathering 2015, Mabon Sage Smudge Sticks, Tanya Thorton (l) and Lauren Holman, Wednesday, September 23, 2015, Big Cottonwood Canyon, UT

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Magical Ingredient Gathering 2015, Mabon Sage Smudge Sticks, April Love, Wednesday, September 23, 2015, Big Cottonwood Canyon, UT

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Magical Ingredient Gathering 2015, Mabon Sage Smudge Sticks, Daniel Cureton, Wednesday, September 23, 2015, Big Cottonwood Canyon, UT

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Magical Ingredient Gathering 2015, Mabon Sage Smudge Sticks, rolling smudge sticks with juniper and mullein, Wednesday, September 23, 2015, Big Cottonwood Canyon, UT

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With all that old wax, what do you do with it? Melt it down and make candles! The members of SLPS met to make candles, a traditional activity for Imbolc as it is also known as Candle Mass (Christian). All that is need is the pot or double boiler, the wax, wicks, and the vessel in which the candles will be. Traditional dipping is an extended activity, so SLPS opted for melt and pour technique. Old glass candles had to be heated slowly, and the ones without vessels were put into a melting container specifically for that purpose.

Some sacred herbs and oils were added to the mix as well on a few. One very good note is to be sure the area is clean and the wax does not have dust or particles as this can make the candles crackle and and cause variations when they burn! It took several pours on the large vessels to achieve a solid surface as the middle of the candles would sink down. Overall, a fun and great weekend activity!

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SLPS had a fun night this past Friday, October 25, 2014 crafting items for Samhain next Friday on the 31st of October. We painted pumpkins in different colors and did another large plaster sugar skull to adorn the altar, which is part of the Day of the Dead festivities.

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Craft nights are exciting and bring magic to the world! This Mabon, 2014 the activity was broom or besom making. And easy enough skill, it doesn’t take much to make up a nice besom for ritual, cleansing and protecting the home. A traditional tool of witches and even some Gods, like Ganesh, the witch’s besom is used to energetically clean an area by sweeping the astral energies out of the room. Most brooms are not built by witches to endure the physical act of sweeping, but are swept slightly off the floor. You can also lean them against a door post or hang about a door frame to protect your home.

Thanks to some pruning last fall, 2013, President Cureton had a supply of staff wood to choose from. Ultimately cherry was the wood of choice. Grass from the garden was magically harvested and used for the bristles. Yarn was use to tie the bundles and secure it to the staff. After only an hour or so, *Boom* there’s a new broom!

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