Garden Witchery (24 page)

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If you're looking to pump up the summer garden with some quick color, plant annuals. Use a little moon gardening magick and plant your annuals in the waxing moon.

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Remember to keep your gardens and your containers watered every day! Keep an eye on new trees and shrubs. Haul out your watering can or bucket and give the young trees a nice, deep drink.

September and October

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking successive autumns.

George Eliot

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This fall while you are planting bulbs for spring color, a good rule of thumb to follow is to plant the bulb two to three times deeper than the height of the bulb. If you are unsure of which end of the bulb is up, then lay the bulb on its side when you plant it. Even if you accidentally plant the bulb upside down, the shoots will instinctively grow up toward the sun.

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Try these shrubs for fantastic autumn color in your own garden:

Compact burning bush (
Euonymus campanulatus
), bright red, hardy to zone 4

Highbush blueberry (
Vaccinium corymbosum
), red, hardy to zone 3

European cranberry bush viburnum (
Viburnum opulus
), yellow to reddish purple, zone 3

Dwarf fothergilla (
Fothergilla gardenii
), yellow, scarlet, and orange, zone 5

November and December

At Christmas I no more desire a rose,
Than wish snow in May's newfangled mirth; But like of each thing that in season grows.

William Shakespeare

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Clip your roses back to about two thirds of their height to help them prepare for the winter months. If your rose bush stands at three feet tall, then clip about a foot of the canes back. Mulch the base of the bush with fallen leaves. Now your roses are all tucked in for winter.

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This winter, don't cut back all of your withered foliage from your perennial garden. Leave it as it stands. It makes the garden more interesting in the winter months to see shapes under the snow or ice instead of a garden that's been whacked back to ground level. Also, the birds and animals will appreciate the cover and any leftover seeds for a snack.

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Gather fresh holly and evergreen branches a week before Yule and use these for inexpensive natural holiday decorations. Arrange these on a mantle or shelf, add a few pillar candles, and you have a gorgeous natural decoration. (Make sure you keep the candle flames well away from the greenery.)

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Try making your own centerpiece for the winter holidays. Start with Oasis, a green florist's foam, soaked in water, and cut the foam to fill your shallow container. Then arrange small branches of holly and ivy into the foam. You can make this diamond shaped or keep it circular. Now, fill in with other textures and varieties of evergreen. Try working with blue spruce, or fill in with clippings from the evergreen boxwood or add long-needled pine. If you live down South, try shiny rhododendron leaves or magnolia leaves. Insert a few red tapers securely into the center of your arrangement. Use green plastic candle cups and insert these into the foam. Add a bow or a few shiny red glass ornaments and have a happy holiday!

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If the thought of floral design makes you too nervous, then simply tuck a few sprigs of berried holly around the base of a red candle and enjoy.

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Every part of this earth is sacred . . .

every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people . . . We are
part of the earth and it is part of us.

Chief Seattle, 1885

Glossary

Advanced Practitioner:
Comparable to a third-degree witch. A practitioner with many years of experience. A high priest or high priestess.

Amend
(soil): To amend is to add organic matter to your soil to improve it.

Annual:
A plant that completes its life cycle in one growing season.

Balefire:
A small ritual fire, usually contained in a cauldron.

Banishing:
Repelling an unwanted person or psychic entity.

Beltane:
One of the greater sabbats, Beltane begins at sundown on April 30. May 1 is Beltane Day or May Day.

Biennial:
A plant that grows vegetatively the first year and then is fruiting or dormant the second year. Foxglove and Queen Anne's lace are prime examples.

Bonfire:
A large outdoor fire.

Book of Shadows:
A witch's recipe/note book. A place to save all your various research. Often a witch's favorite charms and spells are listed as well.

Brownies:
A benevolent, industrious earth elemental. Brownies are considered to be “house faeries”—see
chapter 7

Cauldron:
A large kettle, typically iron, with three legs. A witch's tool representing the element of water and a goddess symbol of regeneration and rebirth.

Charm:
A rhyming series of words (a spell) used for a specific magickal purpose.

Clairvoyance:
The psychic ability to “see” or sense people, places, and events from the past, present, or future.

Coven/Circle:
A group of Wiccans that worship and study together.

Cunning Man:
An old term, traditionally meaning a male practitioner of magick and healing.

The Craft:
The witches' name for the Old Religion and practice of witchcraft.

Dead-head:
To prune or pinch spent and withered foliage off a plant (not a follower of the band the Grateful Dead—that would be a Deadhead)!

Deciduous:
Trees, plants, and shrubs that shed their foliage in the fall and become dormant in the winter months.

Deosil:
Moving in a clockwise direction for casting circles and to bring forth positive influences.

Divination:
The art and practice that seeks to foresee or foretell future events or hidden knowledge. Divination may be accomplished by psychic means or with the help of Tarot cards, scrying, or runes.

Elementals:
Spirits or energies that coordinate with each element. Earth elementals are brownies and gnomes. Air elementals are faeries and sylphs. Water elementals are undines. Fire elementals are drakes, dragons, and djinns.

Elements:
Earth, air, fire, and water.

Esbat:
A coven meeting or observance of a full moon.

Ethics:
If you don't know what these are, you are in a lot of trouble. See
Witches' Rede.

Faery:
A nature spirit. Usually an earth or air elemental.

Fascination:
The art of directing another's consciousness or will toward you. To command interest, to bewitch. Flower fascinations are covered in
chapter 4
.

Florigraphy:
The language of flowers. See
chapter 4
.

Garden Witch:
A practical, down-to-earth type of practitioner. A witch who is well versed in herbal knowledge and its uses, and is a magickal gardener.

Green Man:
A well-liked, traditional interpretation of the God. Also, the Green Man sculpture is enjoying a current level of popularity as a garden ornament. The Green Man usually consists of a man's face surrounded by foliage and greenery.

Grounding and Centering:
A visualization technique. A way to focus and relax before or after performing magick. You push out negativity and stress from your own body, then you pull back into your body healthy and strong energy from the earth. (See
chapter 10
.)

Herbalism:
The use of herbs in conjunction with magick to bring about positive change.

Holly King:
The god of the waning year. His reign begins at the summer solstice and ends at the winter solstice.

Imbolc:
A Wiccan sabbat. A cross-quarter day and one of four greater sabbats traditionally celebrated on February 2. Also known as Brigid's Day, Candlemas, and Groundhog Day. The first spring festival.

Intermediate Practitioner:
Comparable to a second-degree witch, usually with three or more years of Craft experience under their belts.

Kitchen Witch:
A hearth and home practitioner. One who celebrates and practices their craft in a quiet way using household tools and herbs.

Lughnasadh:
A greater sabbat that begins at sundown on July 31. Celebrated on August 1. The first of three harvest festivals, also known as Lammas.

Mabon:
The autumnal equinox and a Wiccan sabbat. The witches' Thanksgiving. Date changes year to year, from approximately September 21–23.

Magick:
The combination of your own personal power used in harmony with natural objects such as crystals, herbs, and the elements.

Midsummer:
The summer solstice and a Wiccan sabbat. Midsummer is celebrated on or around June 21. This sabbat is also known as Litha. An opportune time to communicate with the faeries.

Natural Magician:
A magician who works their magick mainly with the elements, in harmony with herbs and nature.

Nosegay:
See
Posy
.

Novice:
A beginner, a witch with less than a year's experience.

Oak King:
The god of the waxing year. His reign begins at the winter solstice, and he rules over the year until he is defeated by his brother, the Holly King, at Midsummer.

Ostara:
The vernal equinox and a Wiccan sabbat that falls on or around March 20. This is a spring celebration of the Goddess Eostre, and is a time to rejoice in life and new beginnings.

Perennial:
A perennial plant is one that lives three or more years. Herbaceous perennials are plants that are nonwoody, and whose above-ground parts usually die to the ground each winter. They survive the winter by means of their vigorous root systems.

Posy:
An old term for a small, hand-held bouquet. Also known as a tussie-mussie and a nosegay.

Sabbat:
One of eight solar festivals or holidays celebrated by Pagan religions, including Imbolc, Ostara, Beltane, Midsummer, Lughnasadh, Mabon, Samhain, and Yule. Often divided up as greater and lesser sabbats. The greater sabbats are Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh, and Samhain. The lesser sabbats, Ostara, Midsummer, Mabon, and Yule, fall on the equinoxes and the solstices. A fast way to distinguish between the greater and the lesser sabbats is to realize that the dates of the greater sabbats never change. The solstices and equinoxes shift from year to year, depending on when the sun arrives into certain astrological signs.

Samhain:
Also known as Halloween, the witches' New Year. The day when the veil between our world and the spirit world is at its thinnest. This greater sabbat is celebrated on October 31. This popular holiday for children is also a time to honor the souls of loved ones who have passed, and is a time to celebrate the coming year.

Simple:
A simple is described as a medicinal plant. Also known as a basic element, having only one ingredient such as a flower or herb. See
chapter 4
.

Skyclad:
Ritually naked.

Talisman:
An object similar to an amulet. Designed for a specific magickal purpose.

Triple Moon Goddess:
Refers to the three faces of the Goddess. The Maiden is symbolized by the waxing moon. The Mother is represented by the full moon, and the Crone is in sympathy with the waning moon. One example of such a trinity would be Artemis, Selene, and Hecate. See
chapter 6
.

Tussie-Mussie:
A small bouquet. See
Posy
.

Wicca:
The contemporary name for the religion of the witch. Wicca takes its roots from the Anglo-Saxon word
wicce
, which may mean “wise.” It is also thought to mean “to shape or bend.” A Pagan religion based on the cycles of nature and the belief in karma, reincarnation, and the worship of
both
a God and a Goddess.

Widdershins:
Working in a counterclockwise (banishing) direction.

Wisewomen:
The first witches and the custodians of the old herbal knowledge of benevolent spells and charms.

Witchcraft:
The craft of the witch.

Witches' Rede:
The absolute rule that witches and magicians live by. The Rede states simply, “An' it harm none, do what ye will.”

Witches' Rune:
A poem by Doreen Valiente. Doreen Valiente was considered to be “the mother of modern witchcraft.” She wrote many of the traditional rituals and spells that modern witches hold near and dear to their hearts today, such as the poem version of “The Charge of the Goddess” and “The Witches' Rune” (below), a classic, all-purpose spell.

The Witches' Rune

Darksome night and shining Moon,

East, then South, then West, then North,

Harken to the Witches' Rune,

For here I stand to call you forth!

Earth and Water, Air and Fire,

Wand, Pentacle, and Sword,

Work you all to my desire,

Hark you now unto my word!

Cords and censor, scourge and knife,

Powers of the Witch's blade,

Wake you all now unto life,

Come now as the charm is made!

Queen of Heaven, Queen of Hel,

Horned Hunter of the Night,

Lend your power unto my spell,

Work my will by magic rite!

By all the power of Land and Sea,

By all the might of Moon and Sun,

As I do will, so mote it be!

Chant the spell and be it done!

Word Cunning:
Herb craft.

Yule:
The Wiccan sabbat celebrated on or around December 21. The winter solstice is the longest night and the shortest day. It is traditionally the time when Pagans celebrate the Mother Goddess and the return of the newly born Sun God. Decorated trees, the Yule log, fresh holly, mistletoe, and evergreen wreaths feature prominently in our decorations.

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