And the Winner of the Lughnasadh Giveaway is...

....Vikki Sorros!

Congrats Vikki, your name was randomly selected and I will be sending you your goodies ASAP.

Thanks to everyone who participated and I hope you will all join me again for the giveaway that I will be doing for Samhain! :)

Laurel

Lughnasadh Giveaway Now Closed

The Lughnasadh giveaway is now closed. I will randomly draw a winner soon and will post the results within the next few days. Thanks to everyone who entered!

Lughnasadh Giveaway

I am sorry it has taken me so long to get this giveaway posted folks! But here it is. This is what is in the Lughnasadh giveaway....

 

 

 

• One $20 Cyber Gift Certificate
• 1/2 oz Fertile Fields Incense
• Abundance Herbal Beeswax Candle
• Vintage J & G Meakin Studio "Poppies" Sugar Bowl
• "Country Remedies" by Karen Thesen
• Prosperity Herb Bottle Charm
• 10 Wee Baggies of Herbs

$20.00 Cyber Gift Certificate


{cyber gift certificate example}

I will email the winner a cyber gift certificate of $20.00 {CDN/US} value to the winner which can be used to either purchase from my Etsy shop or purchase services that are available on my website.

 

Fertile Fields Incense

 



Fertile Fields has a scent that is reminiscent of freshly mown hay thanks the sweet woodruff that it contains. Also added are elder berries, which gives it a touch of an earthy smell. This blend was created to be burnt for fertility, abundance, harvest blessings and other agricultural rituals, Lughnasadh and as an offering for Macha and equine allies. Some may find Fertile Fields is a suitable offering for other deities such as Tailtiu, Amaethon, or other deities associated with agriculture and the harvest.

Abundance Herbal Beeswax Candle

 

 

This candle is was made by me with harvest and abundance in mind. It is made from premium local beeswax which has been hand-poured into a small harvest-themed mason jar. Throughout the candle there are botanicals such as grain {locally grown}, lavender and meadowsweet {grown by me} and hawthorn berries and elderberries {wildcrafted by me}.

 

Vintage J & G Meakin Studio "Poppies" Sugar Bowl

 

I thought that this sugar bowl would make a lovely offering vessel for Lughnasadh {or Lammas} or perhaps would be suitable for a candle holder. The design is 1970's poppy motif by the English J & G Meakin Studio. It is in excellent condition and apparently this particular design is very collectable.

 

"Country Remedies" by Karen Thesen

Country Remedies by Karen Thesen is a lovely little book published in 1979. It is full of great herbal recipes and lore and the decorated with sweet botanical images. From the back of the book:

"A book full of natural wisdom & old wives' tales that work; the recipes & remedies that have been handed down for generations, from mother to daughter, from good fairy to godchild, to form the heart of self-sufficiency & country lore. Here are remedies that are born of experience & common sense, brewed up in country kitchens with ingredients from the pantry or gathered from gardens & fields."

This copy is in good shape with no missing pages. I think is a must for any herbfolk's library. :)

 

Prosperity Herb Bottle Charm

 

I made this little charm to draw in abundance and prosperity of all types. It is a little corked bottle with a variety of ingredients including grains, comfrey root, peppermint, juniper berries, bladderwrack, hollyhock leaves, and cinquefoil. The bottle was then sealed off with melted beeswax.



Ten Wee Baggies of Herbs

 

A gaggle of herbs that I recently harvested in my garden or out in some of my favourite wildcrafting haunts:

1. Mugwort {Caution: can be toxic!}
2. Goldenrod
3. Wormwood {Caution: can be toxic!}
4. Raspberry Leaves
5. Periwinkle Leaves {Caution: can be toxic!}
6. Viper's Bugloss
7. Lemon Balm
8. Common Tansy {Caution: can be toxic!}
9. Staghorn Sumac Berries
10. Blue Spruce Needles

***Should the winner live in a place where any of these herbs are considered controlled substances, then they can be replaced by another herb of choice {I will provide a list of what else I have available}.*** 

 

How to Enter the Giveaway



For those who are interested in entering, all you need to do is share a favourite summer/early fall recipe. All entries must be submitted to the comment section of this post; you can either just type it out there or link to a video or blog entry that is posted elsewhere. Previously some folks were having issues posting in my comment section, so I will accept entries that are emailed to me {unfetteredwood at yahoo dot ca} and I will post them in the comment section, along with listing who the name of the person it is for.  The winner will be drawn at random right after the closing date. Below you will see the vitals:

1. Only one entry per person.
2. Entrants must be 18 years or older.
3. The giveaway is open for all countries.
4. To enter you are not obligated to purchase anything from me or to subscribe to any of my social media haunts.
5. All entries must be submitted by Sunday July 28th at 3pm EST.
6. The winner will need to provide a mailing address to receive their pretties. The information provided will not be used for any other purpose than to receive their winnings. The information will not be given to anyone else, or sold to a third party.

*********

 

Good luck to all of you who enter!

 

Sláinte!

 

Laurel



Harvesting & Giving Thanks for Healing Herbs

 

Hello dear readers, I hope that everyone is having a lovely summer so far!

 

One of the most exciting times in my garden for me is when I get to harvest herbs in early summer. Last year I did a more in-depth post on some of the rituals that I do around this time for those who are interested. This post will just mostly be photos.

 

The lovely bounty.

 

My Midsummer shrine dedicated to Airmid & honeybees.

 

Offering stones, double pink columbine and hand-rolled beeswax candles.

 

 

Bee artwork done by Amanda Clark.

 

A vessel I made for healing.

In other news, I am getting everything together for a Lughnasadh giveaway, so stay tuned for that.

Sláinte!

Laurel

Spring Flowers

May flowers always line your path and sunshine light your day.

May songbirds serenade you every step along the way.

May a rainbow run beside you in a sky that's always blue.

And may happiness fill your heart each day your whole life through.

 

~ An Irish Blessing

This is just a wee post of some flowers in our garden and some from on our street.

crabapple blossoms {not in our garden}

common comfrey

white columbine
 

lily of the valley

forget me nots
 

mystery wildflowers
 

blue columbine

bleeding hearts

spiderwort

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Sláinte!

Laurel

Some Changes & Other Announcements

Dear Clients & Customers,

 

There are a few changes in the way that I will providing services and to my availability. The details are outlined below.

 

Availability

 

Starting May 27th until the end of November 2013 I will be taking a course which will make my availability over the next few months rather limited. The following changes will be effective for this time period:

• Etsy orders will now be shipped on Wednesdays and Saturdays
• In-person readings, blessings, consultations and events will be available on weekends {there may be some weeknights that I am available}
• The carrying out of spellwork and custom orders will remain unchanged.

 

Changes to Services

 

A permanent change to that I have decided to make to my services is payment structure. Instead of profiting personally, I would like the proceeds of the services that I provide to be donated to what I feel are deserving organizations and causes.

 

I will still be charging for any material or travel expenses {as always, I am very open to barter and trade!}, and beyond that fees will be sliding scale. I will have recommended donation price points listed on the website soon, along with more details as I work out the logistics of these changes.

 

Currently I am looking for a way for clients to be able to donate directly to the organizations and I am in the process of building donation partnerships with organizations so that the whole process is transparent and "above board".

 

To find out more details over on the Pricing Information page and if you happen to be a member of an organization that would be interested in a donation partnership, please do feel free to contact me.

 

*********

 

As one could probably expect things will be slower on this blog over the next couple of months, but I will post when I get the chance.

 

Sláinte!

 

Laurel

The Merry Month of May

{cross posted at the nefaeria blog}

 

The last few weeks have been a busy juggle of celebrating Bealtaine and preparing for some pretty big changes that are just around the corner {more on that in another post}. To make it a little more challenging, some of my Bealtaine activities had been waiting for the weather to comply.

Even with the unpredictable weather though, I have been taking every chance to appreciate the natural beauty of this time of year.

lilacs

periwinkles

Yesterday I consecrated seeds, which will be planted on Friday along with my seedlings after I do a garden blessing. Some hardy annuals and colder weather crops such as lettuce and kale have already been planted.

 

My Bealtaine water and rowan wood for the year were collected a couple of weeks back and I have even got to harvest some herbs.

 

sweet woodruff, periwinkle flowers and wild ginger flowers

stinging nettle

There has been some crafting going on around here too, including a candle to represent my hearth, which was ritually lit after last year's candle smothered. With a bit of luck, this candle will last me until next Bealtaine.

 

Near the end of April my "seasonal altar" was set up for Bealtaine, or perhaps better described as a shrine to Flidais and the wild critters. Over the course of the last few weeks daily devotionals and offerings were made.

 

 

 

For the "big do" I created some May boughs and a May bush and made nettle soup, bannocks and butter.

 

The house was sained and a Bealtaine blessing was said and our "hearth" was smothered and re-lit.
 

I hope that everyone else is having a lovely May!

Sláinte!

Laurel