Mardi: Herbal-Wise

Fennel, a member of the onion family that has a distinctive, licorice-like taste, is very popular in European and North African cooking.  It also has a long history as a magickal plant, with the stalks and seeds being particularly prized.

Old wives have for centuries grown fennel around their homes as a plant-based form of protection.  A sprig of fennel, usually taken from the lacy tufts at the ends, was used to ward off ticks; for this purpose, it was worn in the left shoe.  Modern research has shown that the smell of crushed fennel does indeed hinder, if not entirely impede, the burrowing tendencies of chiggers and ticks.  In Europe, fennel fronds were hung over doors and in windows to keep evil spirits at bay.  This habit of wise women went by the board in some areas with the onset of the witch craze.  Women with fennel hung in their homes were accused of witchcraft.

Scott Cunningham notes that fennel stalks with pine cones attached to the ends were carried in the Dionysian mysteries of Ancient Greece.  Likewise, in his book The Night Battles, Carlo Ginzberg writes of a 16^th century group of men and women in the Italian town of Friuli used fennel stalks to battle the crop-destroying magick of evil witches.  These chosen few, known as the benandanti (do-gooders) ventured into the night in dreams to keep their neighbors safe from the depredations of maleficium.  It probably goes without saying that they were in turn accused of witchcraft and punished for their beliefs.

In hoodoo, the focus of magick is more on the seeds of the fennel plant.  These are scattered around homes, on porches and on windowsills to turn away the evil eye and – most especially – to keep the nosey neighbor and questioning policeman out of family business.  A mojo bag to ensure that government and other authorities will turn a blind eye to one’s personal pursuits is made by combining fennel seeds, oregano, mustard seeds and three chips of cascara sagrada bark in a blue flannel bag.  For extra oomph, the mojo should be dressed regularly with Van Van Oil.  Bonne chance ~

Header: La Danse (or Les Bacchantes) by Bougeureau

Lundi: Recipes

I've never been a big breakfast fan but every once in a while a delightful breakfast dish will show up out of the blue and make me wish I liked that first meal of the day a whole lot more.  Today’s recipe is one of them.

While staying at a bed and breakfast in Northern California wine country some years ago, my husband and I were presented with creamed eggs on toast one morning.  The dish was delicious, if unfortunately bland looking, and I’ve been looking for a similar recipe ever since.  Thanks to La Bouche Creole II, Leon E. Soniat Jr.’s second book of New Orleans favorites published after his death by his wife June, I’ve found it.  This one is even tastier than the one I remember which probably has to do with the addition of typical Creole seasonings like cayenne and celery seed.

6 tbsps unsalted butter

1 medium onion, finely chopped

4 green onions, finely chopped

3 tbsps flour

6 hard cooked eggs, sliced

1 cup heavy cream

1 tsp celery seed

½ tsp cayenne pepper

6 slices buttered toast

Melt butter in a saucepan.  Add the onion and green onion; simmer over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.  Sprinkle in the flour and stir continuously for four minutes.  Fold the eggs gently into the butter mixture and allow to simmer for two minutes.  Add cream and seasonings to finish.  Put slices of toast on six plates and distribute egg sauce evenly over each.  Bon appetite ~

Header: Continental Breakfast by Elizabeth Paxton

Dimanche: Swimming

A la Campagne (in the country), French engraving c 1805

Samedi: Ghostly Tales

Today's story is probably familiar to many residents of the French Quarter.  It was so well known at the turn of the century that according to Gumbo Ya~Ya it appeared in an article, written as a pure reporting of fact, in the New Orleans Daily News of July 4, 1907. 

The tale is told that an apparition was being seen nightly walking from the Old Opera House on Rue St Anne and heading toward Royal.  The spirit was in the shape of a woman dressed in the old fashioned style of mourning.  She was a ghastly sight with long, flowing hair like spun silver, a sunken, ashen face and deep set, empty eyes like those one would see in a skinless skull.  Her destination was a rooming house, of very ancient history, on Rue Royal.    People who met her there, usually on the stairs, were sure to move out the next day.  Because this ghost always took the same route, she was whispered of as the “Witch of the French Opera.”

Further digging turned up the history of the house.  It was owned by an old Creole widow in the 1890s who took a young lover in her dotage.  The two were happy for a time until the widow found that her paramour – whom she had been keeping in style at a Rue Bourbon address – was sleeping with a beautiful and very young quadroon.  The widow, more experienced if not wiser than her feckless beau, did not let on that she knew what he was up to.  One night, she crept into his apartment using her key and turned on the gas while her lover and his girlfriend slept.  They died of asphyxiation.

The widow, according to neighborhood gossip, went mad.  She dawned the mourning she had worn when her husband died and never went out except to attend the Opera until her death at the end of the century.

One evening in 1907, a new tenant who occupied the room that had once been the widow’s bedchamber found a delicate old love letter hidden behind the marble mantelpiece.  As the tenant read the letter, the old widow’s ghost appeared.  Her bony fingers reached for the letter and – terrified – the tenant threw it into the fire.  The specter let out an otherworldly shriek and disappeared.  According to the neighbors, the widow’s spirit was never heard from or seen again.

Header: The Widow by T.F. Simon c 1906

Vendredi: Ten of Diamonds

Many root workers who read playing cards will tell you that the Ten of Diamonds is the most auspicious card in the deck.  In this interpretation, this is the card that indicates all doors to success and happiness will open for the querent.  Hard times are over; you’ve pulled up on Easy Street.

Personally, though I do feel that today’s card is usually a good omen, this reading is over-simplified.  While the card may indicate the coming of well-deserved wealth (usually after a lot of hard work) it can also indicate joys that have nor direct involvement with sudden wealth.  Often the card points to the querent turning their attention to their family.  This is usually very broad in meaning; they may be sustaining a spouse and children, but they may be taking care of a parent or other relative, adopting a child or delving into their family’s genealogy.  Whatever the endeavor, the Ten of Diamonds is an indication of probable success. 

The darker side of this card, if such there is, usually has to do with family inheritance.  The querent may be involved in a dispute over a will or property left without specific instructions.  This can mean a private home or homes but it also may indicate business property or the business itself.  As always, a quick check of the cards close to this one in the spread, and then a specific conversation with your querent will usually lead you to the right interpretation.  Vendredi heureux ~

Header: The Ten of Diamonds and the Five of Spades from the “Gypsy Witch Fortune Telling Deck”; still available today, this fun if curiously inaccurate deck was my favorite as a child

Jeudi: Curios

We have spoken previously about lodestones.  These magnetic stones are thought to draw love, luck and prosperity to those who know how to manipulate them.  Their companion curio, which can also be used in certain kinds of root work, is known as magnetic sand.

Sometimes called lodestone hairs or anvil dust, these small iron shavings stick to lodestones.  They are used to “feed” the stones in certain tricks and to mix with other ingredients in others.  Their primary purview is luck in love or money.

Lodestone Oil is easily made by adding small shavings from a lodestone to a vile of olive oil.  This can be used to dress money to make sure you never run out or to anoint one’s hands before going out for a night of gambling.  It is also used to dress mojos for prosperity and luck.

An allegedly powerful mojo for finding treasure calls for filling a black flannel bag with five-finger grass, comfrey root and a little lodestone.  The bag should be dressed with Lodestone Oil and the lodestone should be fed with magnetic sand regularly.  This will ensure that you will find money – physically, not figuratively – when you travel.  I prefer the simpler version of this hand which eliminates the Lodestone Oil and the magnetic sand all together.  In this case the bag should be dressed regularly with Commanding Oil and carried whenever you travel, ensuring that you will never be lost or injured away from home.

Magnetic sand can be used as a throw to draw love to you.  While concentrating on attracting a certain someone’s romantic attention, throw a handful of magnetic sand on the ground where you know they will step frequently.  When their shoes pick up the little iron shavings, they will become attracted to you.

A very broad trick for attaining just about anything you desire calls for Lodestone Oil, brown paper and pen, a photo or drawing, an old plate, a lodestone and magnetic sand.  Write your desire on brown paper and sign it with your name.  Now take a picture, drawing or other representation of your desire and anoint the four corners with Lodestone Oil.  Do the same with the paper, all the while focusing on your ultimate goal.  Place the paper and then the picture on a plate and place a lodestone on top of them.  Now take the time to speak to the lodestone.  Tell it your dearest desire and end with as I give to you, so will you give to me, as you sprinkle a pinch of magnetic sand on the lodestone.  For your desire to manifest, you must be true to your word.  Speak to the lodestone each day and feed it a generous pinch of magnetic sand.  For the trick to work, you must keep it completely to yourself.  While the work is in progress, no one must find your supplies or catch you at this endeavor.  When your dream is made manifest, thank the lodestone and bury all the supplies in tact – plate, paper, picture, lodestone and magnetic sand – in your yard.  Though it sounds simple, this working requires commitment.  If you miss a day, begin to doubt your potential success or become insincere in your process, you will have to start from scratch once again.  Bonne chance ~

Header:  Strega by Pia Valentinis via Old Paint

Mardi: Herbal-Wise

Those beautiful plants known as peonies whose flowers are only rivaled by chrysanthemums and vintage roses as perhaps the most frau-frau in the garden, are also popular among those who practice root work and spellcraft.  In both hoodoo and Wicca, the herbaceous varieties are used for protection, healing and luck.

Peony roots, dried and carved into beads known in Appalachia and the Ozarks as “piney beads” are strung on red thread and made into necklaces.  These are worn by children to guard them against the mischief of the fey.  This tradition of keeping children safe from fairies, and later minor imps of Satan, may have come from Celtic tradition where children were believed to occasionally be stolen by fairies and replaced with an otherworldly double.  Since many of the people who settled in the mountains were of Scottish, Irish or Scots-Irish heritage, this would certainly follow.      

Scott Cunningham recommends keeping a potted peony in the home to keep evil spirits at bay and turn the evil eye away.  He also advises that peonies planted in the garden will not only ward off evil but keep destructive storms at bay.  Wiccans use peony root in potions for exorcism and say carrying it as a pocket piece will dispel madness.  Cunningham also says that whole peony root can be used as a substitute for mandrake.

In hoodoo, peony root is added to mojo bags for luck.  One recipe calls for carrying a peony root, a Solomon Seal root and three Job’s tears in a red flannel bag.  This should be dressed and fed with Florida Water for general luck, Success Oil for financial success or John the Conqueror Oil for personal power. 

If someone you care for is ill, write their full name on a piece of brown paper and wrap it around a single peony root, a small cross (not a crucifix) and a lock of the afflicted person’s hair.  Place this in a blue mojo bag and dress it with holy water, Blessing Oil or Protection Oil.  Give the completed mojo to your loved one to carry close to their skin. 

Peonies are generally not available from herbalists but can be easily found where ever plants and garden supplies are sold.  Peonies grow in USDA zones 2 through 9; the coldest temperature this plant will tolerate is 55 degrees below zero but if you live in a cold climate, like I do, you’ll need to grow herbaceous peonies rather than peony trees.  Bonne chance ~

Header: Girl Arranging Peonies by F. Bazille c 1870