Six Magickal Simmering Potpourri You Can Make

It’s possible to use simmering potpourri in your home to effect magickal changes.

     Copyright © 2002 Scott Cunningham & David Harrington
As early as 1662, and perhaps long before that, herbs were deliberately simmered to produce pleasant fragrances in the home. This custom has continued to the present day in the form of the use of simmering potpourri.

Scent has an undeniable effect on humans. It can cheer us, calm us, promote hunger and thoughts of bygone days. Unexpectedly smelling a perfume or cologne may make us recall memories of loved ones.

Magicians have always known that scents can produce magical changes as well. Incense has long been smoldered to release energy during magical rites. Fragrant oils are still rubbed onto the body as part and parcel of a thousand-and-one spells. Aromatic herbs are also strewn, carried, brewed, or used in innumerable other magical ways.

Make simmering potpourri.

Simmering potpourri are currently available in a wide variety of formulas. Fancy porcelain pots are also being marketed to be used with these mixtures. Unfortunately, nearly all potpourri mixtures offered for sale today receive little or no scent from true herbs, roots, seeds, and flowers. Many are composed of wood chips heavily doused with synthetic oils. A few dried flowers or spices may be added to improve the potpourri’s visual appeal.

The ingredients of “strawberry” potpourri never grew in a field. Even such simple mixtures as lavender and rose usually have their origins far from the sun-drenched fields of France and Bulgaria. These potpourri have no magical effects, and often emit plasticky, vulgar scents.

It’s possible, however, to use simmering potpourri in your home to effect magical changes. How? Simply make them yourself. The ingredients are generally inexpensive and readily available. (Those that can’t be found at your local market can be ordered through the mail; see appendix.) The rituals used with these mixtures may seem simple, but the powers that waft through the house on the wings of scent are potent and cause both immediate and more long-lasting magical changes.

This section, then, is a guide to creating magical simmering potpourri. All that’s needed is one pot (preferably nonmetallic), a stove, and the herbs themselves. While these mixtures can be used in commercially made “simmerers,” these aren’t necessary We would, however, designate one pot for this purpose alone so that it’s always available for use.

(These mixtures make fine gifts if packed in canning jars, labeled, and tied with a ribbon of the appropriate color).

The following recipes yield approximately enough for one use. These may be doubled or tripled and the magical potpourri kept in tight containers for later use.

To use these mixtures, fill a pot with at least two cups water. Add the mixture. Simmer over low heat for one-half hour or longer. If you’ll be simmering for longer than a half hour, add more water. If you wish, use a potholder to carry the simmering pan around your house to further spread its energies. (A simmering potpourri pot can also be used.) As the scent rises, the power that you’ve placed into the potpourri is automatically released.

Never simmer such mixtures simply for fun, or to deodorize your home. To do so wastes their energies. Reserve your simmering potpourri for magical purposes and create general mixtures for deodorizing purposes.

Here’s some of the magick of scent:

To expand, broaden, or to introduce love into your life, simmer this mixture of herbs. (This can also be used to strengthen a longstanding relationship, or to bring your own family closer together. Love begins within. Love yourself; then seek another with whom to share love.)

   * 3 tablespoons rose petals
   * 2. tablespoons camomile
   * 1 tablespoon coriander
   * 1 tablespoon lavender
   * 1 teaspoon cinnamon
   * 1/2 vanilla bean

Mix in a small bowl and charge with loving energies. Simmer while saying:

   Love awakens in these rooms;
   come by the power of these blooms!

Use every day.

If money is a problem rather than a pleasure, when you're faced with unexpected financial obligations, when the money you earn doesn't seem to come in fast enough, brew up one of these and set money-attracting energies into motion.

   * 2 cinnamon sticks, broken into pieces
   * 4 tablespoons whole cardamom seeds
   * 2 tablespoons whole cloves
   * 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg (or 2 whole nutmegs)
   * 1 teaspoon ground ginger

With your fingers, mix these ingredients in a small bowl, while visualizing increased prosperity. As you mix them, say these or similar words:

   Money simmer in the air;
   money shimmer everywhere!

Simmer this mixture at regular intervals (once a week or so) to drench your home with protective energy. This safeguards it from outside influences of all kinds if it's performed with the proper intent.

   * 4 tablespoons rosemary (whole)
   * 3 bay leaves (whole)
   * 1 tablespoon basil (whole)
   * 1 tablespoon sage (whole)
   * 1 tablespoon fennel (whole)
   * 1 teaspoon dill seed (whole)
   * 1 teaspoon juniper berries (whole)
   * A pinch dried garlic (can be omitted)

Mix in small bowl with hands, visualizing your home as a protected place. Charge the herbs with protective energies. Add to simmering water.

When the scented steam rises, chant the following or similar words:

   Air and water, work my will
   to guard this house with power bold;
   Earth and fire, work to still
   all dangers both untold and told.

While spring cleaning or at any time you wish to clear away the cobwebs of useless energies that exist within all homes, after household arguments, when a roommate moves out, whenever tension is in the air, simmer this mixture with at least one window open. (During winter or rain, open the fireplace's damper, crack a window an inch, or otherwise ensure that there's a clear and easy path out of your home for the duration of the ritual.)

   * 6 tablespoons peppermint
   * 1 tablespoon spearmint
   * 1 tablespoon rosemary
   * 1 tablespoon dried lemon peel
   * 1 tablespoon dried lime peel

Mix, charge, and simmer as you say these or similar words:

   Scented breeze, blow pure and clear
   unwanted power far from here.

If you wish to link your conscious mind with your psychic awareness, if you wish to use tarot cards or rune stones or other tools to glimpse possible future events, create this blend and simmer to stimulate your psychic mind.

   * 3 tablespoons galangal
   * 1 tablespoon star anise (or 2 whole)
   * 1 tablespoon lemongrass
   * 1 tablespoon thyme
   * 1 tablespoon rose petals
   * A pinch mace
   * A pinch real saffron

Mix and charge the herbs in a small bowl. Visualize your psychic awareness as being under your control. Smell the fragrance rising from the herbs. Inhale the energies. Relax, chant the following words, and foretell.

   Starlight swirls before my eyes;
   twilight furls its wisdom wise;
   moonlight curls within the skies:
   the time has come to prophesize.

To be used before and/or during all forms of magical rites. This formula boosts your reserve of personal power. Use at least four cups of water to simmer the following mixture.

   * 4 tablespoons dried orange peel
   * 4 tablespoons whole allspice
   * 2 tablespoons ground ginger
   * 2 whole carnations (preferably red)
   * or 1 tablespoon ground cloves

Charge the herbs and spices while mixing them in a small bowl. As you mix them, say these or similar words:

   Flowers and spices
   charged by the sun
   help me ensure that

More Spell Crafts Available Here:

Spell Crafts.

Take a look at your hands. See them as wondrous vehicles of power. Feel the energy that flows through everything you do. Tap into that power! Carve a symbol, dip a candle, mix fragrant herbs, sculpt clay, and make your life all that you want it to be. When crafts are used to create objects intended for ritual or to symbolize the divine, the connection between the craftsperson and divinity grows more intense.

This second edition of Spell Crafts, the much-loved and oft-read guide to magical handwork, features new illustrations and a new preface by David Harrington. Learn how to create and use all of the following:

   - magical simmering potpourris
   - a beaded psychic mandala
   - clay pentacles, plaques, and runic dice
   - a shaman''s arrow
   -And much more

Spell Crafts: Creating Magical Objects by Scott Cunningham & David Harrington.

Often Bought With This Item:

* Earth, Air, Fire & Water: More Techniques of Natural Magic (Llewellyn's Practical Magick) by Scott Cunningham.   
* Living Wicca: A Further Guide for the Solitary Practitioner (Llewellyn's Practical Magick) by Scott Cunningham.    

Related:

* The Witch's Guide to Manifestation: Witchcraft for the Life You Want by Mystic Dylan.     
* Wicca 101: A Comprehensive Guide to the Craft by Earl LeMaster.     

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