Scrub your body with herbs

In this episode, I’ll teach you how to make a herb scrub. You’ll hear about the outcome of one of my tarot readings. I’ll talk about the uses for Wheat, Mabon, and I’m going to give you a prompt, something you can do easily and in a short amount of time, to get some magic into your day.

Caution and Disclaimer

A small caution. If you’re sensitive to language, I must warn you that the occasional swear word might slip through the cracks when I edit.

I do not give medical advice
I am not promising a cure for any illness
I am not telling you to replace conventional medication. Remember
that this is about magic and not physics, chemistry or something similar.
Any and all parts that contain information about herbs and remedies is only of historical interest.
Any use of this information is entirely your own responsibility and at your own risk.
I do not guarantee the function of any of the recipes or instructions.

Show Notes

Using natural scrubs removes the dead outer layers of your skin. By exfoliating once a week, you can make your skin softer and smoother, and increase circulation, which makes it look younger. There are many different herbs and other things you can use in a scrub. In addition to using essential oils, you can use fresh herbs and I’ll cover a couple of recipes today. When you use herbs, you not only get a great scrub but you also get the therapeutic benefits of that particular plant.

You can use the herbs as they are, or you can use a mixture of herbs and oils. If you want to use fresh herbs, it’s best to mix them with the carrier oil that you will be using in scrub at least 2 weeks before making it. This is to extract the active components from the herbs. To do this, you put the oil and the herbs in a jar and place it where it will be exposed to the sun. This helps infuse the oil with the herbs. It’s also possible to extract them faster by heating the herbs and oil in a pan, but sun infusion is preferred.

I have a couple of recipes that I’ve found, and I’ve linked to the sources in the show notes.

Lemon/Thyme Salt Scrub

Add a cup of salt to a clean jar, then add the following to your mixture: The zest of one lemon, 2 teaspoons of fresh thyme which has been stripped from the stems. Pour about 1/2 cup of almond oil over it, mix it and put the lid on.

Lavender Sea Salt Scrub

Take 1/2 cup of coarse or fine sea salt, add 1/3 cup of grapeseed, jojoba, almond or coconut oil. Then give it a good stir. Take about 1 tablespoon of dried lavender and mix it in. Add 16 drops of lavender essential oil to finish it off. Start with a lot fewer, so you don’t add more than you like. It can get rather smelly.

One of these scrubs will keep for up to 6 months if you store it in an airtight container at room temperature. To use them, you just stir to mix the oil and salt together and scrub away, preferably in the shower.

Tomato Sugar Scrub

This one is especially good for those who struggle with acne, and it couldn’t be simpler. Take 1/2 fresh tomato and 1/2 tablespoon of fine granulated sugar. Sprinkle the sugar on the cut surface of the tomato and get scrubbing. Be gentle, don’t scrub too hard. This one doesn’t keep, but it’s so easy to make it doesn’t matter.

Remember not to use these if you have open cuts on your skin, and that scrub shouldn’t be used every day. Once a week is enough. Use herbs that you know well, so you don’t get any unwanted effects. You can make pretty much any beauty product yourself. If you want more recipes like these, there are quite a few in the Witch’s Library.

A reading about a missing piece

A fellow female entrepreneur had this question for her reading: What guidance do I need that I am missing?

This is the answer the cards gave her: You feel ambitious and a sense of purpose. You have a task to perform, but change or renewal is blocked at the moment. You are easily distracted right now, so do one thing at a time. You need a break from routine.

New beginnings with deeper meaning are on the way or already in progress. Follow your calling. There are several cards speaking of transition and change.

You have a lot of support available. Two cards speak of a man who’s experienced, energetic, masculine. He’s probably older than you, and some kind of leader. He might rub you the wrong way, but it’s well-meant advice. Do not be annoyed if he says what you should do, use the advice that matters and ignore the rest. It seems you’ll be stumbling across this advisor pretty soon if you haven’t already. The guidance you get will solve a material problem.

If you have a similar question, you’ll find the link to the readings in the show notes.

Herb of the week: Wheat

Mabon, the Autumnal Equinox

The Autumnal Equinox is when the day and night are about the same length. Some Pagans choose to call this Mabon. The holiday is named after the Welsh God, Mabon, son of Earth Mother goddess Modron. It’s the second of the harvest celebrations that start with Lughnasadh or Lammas and end with Samhain and marks the official first day of fall. Nature retreats, takes back its riches, and prepares for winter and rest. The nights get darker and the Sun during the day grows weaker.

It’s a time for balance, and to relax and enjoy the fruits of your labor, whether it’s from your garden, or from work, school, family or just having coped with everyday life. This is the time to look back not just on the past year, but also your life, and to plan for the future. Celebrate your successes and assess which crops, projects, or dreams didn’t turn out the way you wanted.

Today’s prompt: Mabon is coming. If you want to celebrate the equinox, do some preparations for it. Plan what you want to do and make sure you have the things you might need for it. So that you don’t have to do everything on that day.

That’s it for me for today. Thanks for listening to the Witch in the Valley Podcast. The next episode will, among other things, be about magical berries. If you have any questions, just reach out to me at linda@lindaursin.net Remeber to rate and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.