How to Make Purification Bath Salts

Salt baths can feel regenerative and refreshing, and one of my favorites is a Purification Bath. This is great for anyone who feels like they pick up other people’s energy, emotions, or wants to release some tension from their body. 

I like making this into a bit of a ritual, and if you’re making these salts for someone you care about, you can copy part of this blog post or write down what you think is relevant to them. The idea is to customize this for yourself and do what feels most comfortable for you. 

According to The Hearth Witch’s Compendium: Magical and Natural Living for Every Day by Anna Franklin, these are the herbs and plants that can be used for cleansing and purification:

Cleansing 

Angelica - Basil - Bay - Benzoin - Bistort - Broom - Camphor - Caraway - Comfrey - Frankincense - Geranium - Grapefruit - Hyssop - Lavender - Lemon - Marjoram - Nicotiana - Peppermint - Pine - Rosemary -  Sage - Snowdrop - Soapwort - Tansy - Thyme - Vervain 

Purification

Alkanet - Angelica - Asafoetida - Avens - Benzoin - Black Pepper - Birch - Bloodroot - Broom - White Camphor - Cassia - Cedarwood - German Chamomile - Roman Chamomile - Cinnamon - Cinquefoil - Cleavers - Clove - Coconut - Copal - Cumin - Eucalyptus - Fennel - Frankincense - Grapefruit - Hyssop - Lavandin - Lavender - Lemon - Lemongrass - Lemon Verbena - Lime - Myrrh - Nicotiana - Olive - Peppermint - Pine - Primrose - Rosemary - Rue - Sage - Sandalwood - Soapwort - St. John’s Wort - Tea Tree - Thyme - Vervain - Yarrow

There are many different combinations you could make with ingredients you likely already have at home. If you don’t have access to the dried herbs, you can always purchase Chamomile or Peppermint tea and place a couple bags in your bathtub, or cut it open to work with the loose herbs. 

Ingredients such as Basil, Bay, Caraway, Clove, Cumin, Fennel, Rosemary, Sage, and Thyme may already be in your spice collection, and you can add them to your bath salts. If there are certain ingredients that stand out to you, you can always look up organic herbal providers online, such as Mountain Rose Herbs or individual distributors on Etsy.  

Whatever ingredients you do use, keep in mind that your body is meant to soak in them, so don’t use anything that could give you a negative reaction. If you’re pregnant, check with your doctor first before using herbs and spices on your body. 

How to Make Your Own Purification Bath Salts 

Combine all of the chunky (in other words, nothing that’s already a fine powder) ingredients in a spice grinder, blender, or food processor. You’re also welcome to grind and chop these ingredients by hand.

Bay

Cinnamon

Coconut

Fennel

Lavender

Rosemary

Sage 

Thyme 

Epsom Salt 

Once the ingredients are close to a fine powder, combine with the Epsom Salt. You can keep the bath salts loose if you’re ok with small floating herbs in your bath. Otherwise, place all of the ingredients in a muslin bag (you should be able to find one at your local grocery store). When the time comes, you can place the whole bag in your bath. Let the herbs steep and the salts disintegrate. 

When You Take a Purification Bath 

Since there is special significance to this bath, you can perform a small ritual as part of the experience. First off, visualize your aura and how far it spreads out. Imagine bringing it in to within one foot of your body, or into the level of your skin. Doing this will make sure your energy field isn’t picking up anyone else’s energy, making it easier to cleanse and purify your body and energy field. 

If it’s in your practice to use a rattle, use your rattle all over your body. The idea is to shake loose any stuck energy and anything you want to cleanse, purify, or remove. 

Cleanse your energy field using the method that speaks most to you. If this is using Florida Water or Holy Water, you can use those before or after the bath. If you use smoke, burn a stick of incense, palo santo, or sage all over your body. While you’re doing this, make sure you cover your entire body: the palms of your hands, the crooks of your elbows, your armpits, between your legs, the backs of your knees, your lower back, the bottoms of your feet. If you have particular trouble areas around your body, you can spend some extra time clearing them. Be careful and make sure you don’t burn yourself or get the burning areas too close to your body. The idea here is to smudge yourself, not set yourself on fire. 

Before you add the salts to your bath water, you can place crystals in the water that can add potency. Anything that absorbs negative energy or brings in love can be helpful. For example, you can use Rose Quartz for love. Black Tourmaline is also good to use in this instance, however, it must be a tumbled piece or the crystal will start to disintegrate. Other crystals you can use are Onyx, Obsidian, Shungite, Amethyst, Howlite, Jasper, and Blue Lace Agate. 

In their raw form, some crystals will dissolve in water, so make sure it’s a substance that can be in water. Leave the crystals in the water and take them out before you add the salt. 

Prepare your bath, and when there’s a good amount of hot water, pour the bath salts in or place the muslin bag into the water. Stir the salts clockwise with your hand until they disintegrate. I generally put the salt in early on, when there’s a couple inches of water. 

What you do in the tub is up to you! You can listen to sounds that are soothing or reassuring to you, or play a meditation. Typically with bath salts you want to spend at least 15 minutes in the water. 

If you want to do a visualization, you can also imagine the ingredients in the water making their way into your body. Imagine them as gold or white light working its way into your skin cells, or other organs in your body, clearing away anything you no longer want or need, and being pulled into the water. 

When you’re done and the bathtub has completely drained, you can rinse off yourself and your tub to make sure everything is washed away. 

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Libra Sugar Scrub

Happy Libra season! This month, I’m offering a Libra Tarot Reading you can book for yourself or someone in your life. You can learn more about the reading and the sign of Libra here.

Libra is one of the two signs ruled by the planet Venus, which oversees love and beauty. Two of the plants that correspond to Libra are Rose and Spearmint, and I’m using those this month to make a Libra Sugar Scrub.

Roses rule over unconditional love, peace, lust, beauty, healing, health, psychic awareness, rebirth, resurrection, funerals, memorials, initiation, luck, love, passion, sexuality, sensuality, seduction, and marriage. 

Spearmint coincides with healing, mental activity, protection, attracting money, and success.

Other plants that coincide with Libra energy are Peppermint, Chamomile, Fennel, Mugwort, Dill, Vanilla, and Thyme. You can use those in a tea, bath salts, or even add to them to your food if you want to invite in Libra energy during your daily routine. I didn’t use these ingredients in a sugar scrub because they don’t smell particularly great in a scrub (and I’m saving Peppermint for the Yuletide season), but if you feel guided to work with them, please do! You can use the base recipe below and add in the amounts to your liking.

Libra Sugar Scrub

1 cup Sugar

1/4 Coconut Oil, melted

1 tsp Roses, about 4 small dried buds

1/2 tsp dried Spearmint

Finely chop Roses and Spearmint together. You can grind these in a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle and then finely chop on a cutting board. The idea is to grind these ingredients until they’re the closest you can get to a fine powder. Mix with the sugar.

Add the melted coconut oil and stir thoroughly to combine. Do a patch test by testing a small amount on your skin to make sure you don’t have a negative reaction (I use my forearm). If there’s no issue, store in an airtight container and use within a week or two.

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Freyja Sugar Scrub

It’s almost Friday the 13th! While this can seem ominous to some, it’s also a celebration of the Norse goddess Freyja.

Freyja oversees love, sex, fertility, death, warfare, magic, and witchcraft. You can learn more about her here. Some of the plants and foods associated with her are almonds, strawberries, and honey.

I’ve been wanting to make something that incorporates her ingredients for some time, but it only recently occurred to me to use the ingredients in their natural form, not as essential oils. Since I’m a big fan of sugar scrubs, I realized how easy it is to use fresh or frozen strawberries, runny honey, and almond flour. The nice thing about this recipe is that so long as you have access to frozen strawberries, you can make it any time of year, or during the summer with fresh strawberries.

These particular ingredients are great because not only do they have magical benefits, they have physical benefits as well. According to The Hearth Witch’s Compendium: Magical and Natural Living for Every Day by Anna Franklin:

Almond

Can be used as a gentle exfoliant, and is used for regeneration, divination, fertility, love, luck, and money.

Honey

Has antibacterial properties, helps to nourish and feed the skin, and can help remove blackheads.

Strawberry

Has Vitamin C and works to help reduce fine lines, wrinkles, blemishes, and acne. Can be used for blessing, love, and fertility.

Freyja Sugar Scrub Recipe 

2 Strawberries, macerated

⅛ cup Coconut Oil, melted

½ tsp Honey 

1 tbsp Almond Flour 

1 ½ cups Sugar 

Cut the strawberries into small pieces, then place in a bowl and mash thoroughly with a fork. Add the melted coconut oil and honey, stirring to combine thoroughly. 

In a separate bowl, combine the almond flour and sugar. Use a spoon to break up any small clumps, and mix to thoroughly combine. 

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir thoroughly until all of the ingredients are combined. If the mixture seems too wet, you can always add more sugar one teaspoon at a time. If the mixture is too dry, either add another strawberry or a touch more honey. 

Store in an airtight container and use within a week or so. Since this includes fruit, I recommend storing it in the refrigerator in between uses so it maintains maximum freshness.

If you work with the Norse goddess Freyja, you can call in her energy before making the scrub. I only advise this if you have already introduced yourself and begun working together, and have your own practice and/or relationship with her.

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Rose and Cardamom Bath Salts

Before we say goodbye to summer in 2019 and dive into all things fall, I’d like to share this recipe that you can use any time of the year: Rose and Cardamom Bath Salts.

Bath salts are great to use when you have achy or sore muscles, after a reiki healing session, or when you need some quality time to yourself. The scientific benefits of Epsom salt baths have not been proven, however, salt is used in witchcraft for cleansing your personal energy field and protection. For more on that, check out my guide on making your own protection salt.

This recipe in particular is one of my favorites. Roses are not only good for the skin, they bring in the energy of love, which is especially helpful after a reiki healing session. Since so much energy is flowing through the body, it can make a difference to recuperate in a warm bath with the essence of love.

In the past I’ve been guided to make this for myself and some of my reiki clients, which is why I am sharing this recipe with all of you! I added cardamom because it smells wonderful and adds a bit of passion, but if you don’t feel comfortable adding it in, you can always make a simple bath salt mixture with just Epsom Salts and dried roses.

Now let’s get into the properties of each of these ingredients. The information below comes from The Hearth Witch’s Compendium: Magical and Natural Living for Every Day by Anna Franklin.

Rose

Rose relates to all aspects of rebirth, resurrection, funerals, memorials, initiations, luck, love, passion, sexuality, sensuality, seduction, and marriage. It’s astringent, toning, anti-inflammatory, regenerative, and promotes new cell growth. It can be good for aging, dry, and sensitive skin, and can help to rehydrate and smooth the skin.

Cardamom

Cardamom relates to all aspects love, passion, and lust. It’s ruled by Venus, the planet of love.

Both of these ingredients are ruled by the element of water, which is a feminine energy and relates well to a warm bath.

Rose and Cardamom Bath Salts

1 cup Epsom Salt

5 dried Roses

1 tsp ground Cardamom

Pull the petals off of the dried rose stems and either chop finely or grind in a spice grinder. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir thoroughly. If you want more roses or cardamom, add more to your liking. Place either in a satchel or directly into a hot bath. Stir the ingredients in your bathwater until the salt has dissolved, and relax in the bath for at least 20 minutes.

Have some questions about love? You can book a tarot reading with me, Kajora Lovely! I do tarot readings over the phone, in emails, or in person in the Los Angeles area. You can learn about rates here and email me at kajoralovely@gmail.com to book!

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How to Make Your Own Protection Salt

Feeling safe and secure at home is important to our mental and physical well being, and one way to help is to use protection salt.

Salt has been used for protection for a very long time, and it’s believed to absorb negative energy. By combining it with protective herbs or essential oils, it can be used to ward off any energy you don’t want coming into your home. This can be any type of energy—living people, spirits, or other energies.

According to The Hearth Witch’s Compendium: Magical and Natural Living for Every Day by Anna Franklin, these herbs and essential oils are best for protection:

Acacia - Acorn - African Violet - Agrimony - Alfalfa - Aloe Vera - Alyssum - Amaranth - Angelica - Anise - Arbutus - Arnica - Ash - Aspen - Balm of Gilead - Bamboo - Basil - Bay - Bergamot - Betony - Bilberry - Birch - Black Pepper - Bladderwrack - Bloodroot - Bryony - Buckthorn - Buckwheat - Bugleweed - Burdock - Calamus - Calendula - Caraway - Carnation - Cedarwood - Greater Celandine - German & Roman Chamomile - Chrysanthemum - Cinnamon - Cinquefoil - Coconut - Black & Blue Cohosh - Coriander - Cyclamen - Dill - Echinacea - Elecampane - Eucalyptus - Fennel - Feverfew - Male Fern - Foxglove - Frankincense - Fumitory - Gardenia - Garlic - Geranium - Heather- Heliotrope - Holly - Hollyhock - House Sleek - Hyacinth - Hyssop - Iris - Juniper - Larkspur - Lemon - Lilac - Lime - American & True Mandrake - Marjoram - Marshmallow - Mimosa - Mistletoe - Mugwort - Mulberry - Mullein - Stinging Nettle - Oregano - Pennyroyal - Peony - Periwinkle - Greater Plantain - Pokeweed - Primrose - Purslane - Rice - Rosemary - Rowan - Sage - Saint John’s Wort - Sandalwood - Spearmint - Skullcap - Thyme - Toadflax - Tomato - Vervain - Vetiver - Yarrow

To make the protection salt, combine about as much kosher salt as you think you’ll need—this will depend on how many doors you have, and whether or not you want to put salt on or in front of your windows. Then add in the herbs or essential oils you want to use.

While some herbs are easy to find, such as Rosemary and Dill, don’t feel like you have to go out of your way to find an obscure herb. It’s all about your intention, so even if you only had rose petals to work with, you could hold them in your hand and charge them with the intention of giving you loving protection and keeping out those who do not approach your home with love in their hearts.

If you don’t have any herbs but do have pepper, you can combine just salt and a lot of black pepper or cayenne pepper. If there are other herbs not listed above that you also want to use, feel free to add them to your salt. It’s important to do what feels right to you!

Once you’ve combined all the ingredients you want to use, you can set the intention while you stir them together or stir them and then place your hands over the salt and charge it with your intention. You can begin by calling in your spirit team: your spirit guides, ancestors, angels, gods and goddesses, and anyone else that comes in for your highest good. If you work with certain protective spirits or deities (such as fairies), call them in at this time.

You can say this out loud or in your mind, but make it clear who you do not want coming into your home. If it’s a specific person that means to do you harm, you can say their full name. If it’s more general, here’s my usual go to statement:

Please shield and protect my home and all of the living beings within it so that those who enter our home only come for our highest good and greatest benefit.

I add the phrase living beings so my pets are also covered. You can add anything else you feel guided to, and if certain words or phrases suddenly come to mind and feel right to you, include those as well. There’s no one right way to do this, and the idea is simply to create a protective space for your home and only bring in those who want what’s best for you.

Then spread the salt in front of every doorway to your home. If you have a walkway leading up to your front door, you can spread the salt at different points along the walkway as well. If you have a large house, make sure you get any side doors, including the garage door. You can repeat your intention as you’re laying down the salt as well, but only if it feels right to you.

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Love Sugar Scrub for Beltane

Beltane takes place on May 1, and this pagan holiday celebrates everything having to do with love, fertility, romance, and sex. You can learn more about Beltane here. I love this holiday because it’s better than Valentine’s Day.

It takes place during Taurus season, which is ruled by Venus, the planet of love. During this time of year we all want to feel good and enjoy the sensual aspects of life, and Beltane celebrates spring and the return of summer, times when we get to enjoy life more than in the winter months.

To help you bring a taste of Beltane into your life and home, I’m sharing this recipe for a Love Sugar Scrub I created a few months ago that feels like spring. Red flowers are typically used to celebrate this pagan holiday, and I incorporated dried red roses. Cardamom is one of my favorite ingredients in both food and beauty, and the combination with olive oil, coconut oil, and lemon juice smells divine.

All of these ingredients are also good for your skin! Here’s some information I gathered from The Hearth Witch’s Compendium: Magical and Natural Living for Every Day by Anna Franklin.

Lemon promotes new cell generation, softens the skin, and helps to diminish wrinkles. Magically, it’s cleansing and works for both love and protection.

Rose is astringent, toning, anti-inflammatory, regenerative, promotes new cell growth, is good to use on aging, dry, and sensitive skin, and it helps smooth the skin. Magically, it’s used for love, luck, passion, sexuality, sensuality, seduction, rebirth, and resurrection.

Cardamom’s magical uses include love, passion, and lust while Coconut is used for luck, purification, and protection. Olive Oil is soothing and healing, and magically it’s used for new beginnings and peace.

Love Sugar Scrub

2 cups sugar

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

1 tbsp dried rose petals, ground

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1 tbsp lemon juice

Combine all dry ingredients first: sugar, dried rose petals, and ground cardamom. Stir until all ingredients are thoroughly combined; smell to see if you would like to add more roses or cardamom. Combine all wet ingredients and add to the dry ingredients. Stir to combine, making sure the oils haven’t clumped up the sugar.

If you want to, add more oil or more herbs to get the scent you like. Store in an airtight container and use on your body as needed, about once or twice a week.

You can add the use of this sugar scrub to your self care routine or just use it when you’re getting ready for the day ahead. It lasts a few weeks, and the olive oil may pool a little at the bottom, so make sure you mix the ingredients from time to time.

Enjoy!

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Lavender and Lemon Body Sugar Scrub

It’s officially spring! This time of year my two favorite scents and flavors are lavender and lemon.

While I could bake and eat lavender and lemon cookies all day long, I also like looking for other ways to incorporate them into my life. One way to do that is with a lavender and lemon sugar scrub.

I like sugar scrubs because they’re a self-care treat you can enjoy every few days—or as often as you like. Sugar scrubs are a way to exfoliate, cleanse, and hydrate your skin. I like to use them because I feel refreshed afterward and I can smell it after I’ve gotten out of the shower.

When you’re making a sugar scrub, it’s important to be respectful of your skin—make sure you’re using ingredients that agree with your body. While exfoliating can smooth your skin and feel transformative, it’s also important not to irritate your skin.

Before we get into the recipe, let’s talk about some of the ingredients we’re using. Some of the information for this comes from my main go-to resource, The Hearth Witch’s Compendium: Magical and Natural Living for Every Day by Anna Franklin. The other information about oils I have learned from herbalists.

Lemon

When it comes to your body, lemon can help to soften the skin, work on diminishing wrinkles, help fade age spots, and helps to generate new cells. Once you’ve used it on your skin, make sure you rinse it off entirely.

Magically, it helps with cleansing, purification, healing, love, and protection. Lemon is ruled by the Moon and the element of Water. This means it can feel feminine, relate to intuition, and possibly feel cooling or soothing.

A little lemon juice can go a long way in a sugar scrub, so if you’re not crazy about it, use a little bit at first.

Lavender

For your body, lavender helps to tighten the skin, it includes collagen, so it can help with wrinkles and aging skin.

Magically, Lavender relates to attraction, love, joy, sleep, psychic awareness, prosperity, purification, healing, cleansing, meditation, peace, and harmony. It is ruled by the planet Mercury, which also rules communication, and its element is Air. This means it has more of masculine and yang energy.

It also relates to the deities Cernunnos, Circe, Hekate, Medea, Saturn, and serpent goddesses. If you work with any of these deities, you can incorporate lavender on this sugar scrub in your work with them, especially if you want to do some work for purification or love.

Oil

A note about oils: because we’re comprised of animal cells, we don’t always have an easy time absorbing plant-based cellular structures. This means that most plant-based oils are not easily absorbed into the skin, with the exception of jojoba oil. We actually have an easier time absorbing animal-based oils, but those don’t have a great shelf life outside of a refrigerator. That doesn’t mean other oils such as olive or coconut don’t work at all, but they may not give you a deep hydration; instead they remain on the surface of your skin.

Personally, I like using coconut oil in part because of the way it smells. Since it solidifies below a certain temperature, it mixes well as a sugar scrub and has a good shelf life.

Moon Phase

If you work with the phases of the moon, you could make and use this sugar scrub during the waning moon phase. That’s the phase in between the waxing moon and new moon, when the moon is losing its intensity. Magically speaking, this is a great time to release, cleanse, and purify.

Using a Sugar Scrub with Intention

Since this sugar scrub helps with cleansing, purification, healing, love, peace, protection, meditation, and harmony, you can use those intentions when you’re using it on your body. For example, you could imagine that in addition to dead skin and dirt, the sugar scrub is helping you get rid of other people’s feelings, judgement, and energy while you’re washing your body.

The power of intention and visualization can be pretty potent, especially when you’re taking a bath or are in the shower. Our minds don’t have much to focus on, and in those moments we can actually get some of our best ideas. But if you want to help cleanse or rinse off things you don’t want to be carrying around, you can repeat affirmations or imagine releasing other people’s energy back to them.

You can also imagine bringing peace, love, and harmony into your life. You can use affirmations about those topics as well. It’s all up to you!

Lemon & Lavender Sugar Scrub Recipe

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

Zest of one lemon

Juice of half a lemon

1/4 cup dried lavender, ground and chopped

Combine the sugar and melted coconut oil and stir until the ingredients are thoroughly intertwined. To melt the coconut oil, I typically heat the 1/2 cup in a microwave-proof bowl in the microwave for about a minute, but you can also melt it over a stove top. If the temperature in your home is already over 78°, you probably don’t need to melt it at all.

Zest the lemon first. If you want less lemon, zest less than you think you want, combine it with the other ingredients, smell, and determine if you want to add more. Depending on the size and juiciness of your lemon, squeeze in the juice from about half a lemon and stir to combine. You can also determine later if you want to add more.

Grind the lavender either in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder, then chop to make the pieces as small and powdery as possible. This is so that the lavender disperses through the sugar scrub and doesn’t clog up your shower drain.

Once all the ingredients are thoroughly combined, smell and do a patch test (see below). This is your recipe, so you can also customize and add more lavender or lemon if you like.

I recommend storing this in a plastic storage container. That will help improve the sugar scrub’s shelf life and you won’t have to worry about glass breaking in the shower. Use as often as you like; I use it about every 3-4 days. If you shave parts of your skin, I recommend using this a day or two after shaving.

A few notes:

Feel free to change or sub out these ingredients if you know you’ll have a reaction to them. If you’re making this for someone else, it helps to know if they have any allergies or if they could have an adverse reaction to any of these ingredients.

Once you’ve made a batch, do a patch test. Use a small portion on your skin (I use the inside of my arm) to test out the scrub by scrubbing it on your skin and rinsing it off. Wait about 5-10 minutes and see if there is a reaction. If you do react, it could take longer.

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