We’re now in the season of magical cooking and ritual gatherings! Though we might not always stop to consider the spiritual and mood altering qualities of our food, magic is present in our kitchens! The foods and herbs we interact with all the time can also be the ingredients of many potions and magical meals. Our homes, as well, can easily be transformed into ritual sites where harmony, nurturing, health, and balance abide. All it takes is a little knowledge and intention, and the presence of our plant and crystal allies.
Marjoram
It may not be all the time that family, especially extended family, have the luxury or habit of sitting down for a meal together. If your family is able to come together this holiday season and share good food, and especially if you are hosting, it might be a perfect opportunity to introduce the magic of marjoram. Helpful as a culinary herb and medicinal aid, Marjoram (Origanum Majorana) is a member of the mint family and has a flavor similar to its cousin oregano, but gentler and slightly sweet in comparison. With greyish, green leaves and small pink, violet, or white flowers, this richly fragrant, low growing perennial herb is pretty and pleasing enough to use in bouquets, dried arrangements, corsages and flower crowns. It can be grown indoors, as well as in the garden, and is a very good friend to have in the home.
Marjoram is an herb for harmony, for strengthening the bonds of love, not with passion, but with peace. It has been used in spells for divining one’s future mate, for bringing harmony and compassion within marriage, and for ensuring peace within families both by promoting joy and banishing the energies of conflict and chaos. Long used as a love spell ingredient, this plant originated in the Middle East and Mediterranean, has been used by the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians, and is even reputed to have been grown by Aphrodite, who said it’s scent brought luck. As an herb sacred to Aphrodite and Osiris, it has been used in both wedding and funeral rites, crowning couples at the altar and growing on graves to ensure the deceased will have a happy and peaceful afterlife. Because of its antiseptic properties, it was also a strewing herb, meaning it was added to reeds or straw to cover the floor, so that it would produce a sweet smell when walked upon, and help to keep environments healthy. Its scent is calming, so sprinkling it around the home, particularly in corners, creating a floor wash from an infusion, adding it to incense or burning the dried plant, and using the essential oil in baths and balms can all produce the desired pacifying effect, without ingestion.
However, Marjoram is perfect for cooking. It makes an excellent carminative tea or herb sprinkle, for better digestion after heavier meals. The tea can also be very helpful for breaking up congestion, as well as for soothing frayed nerves. It is a flavorful addition to soups, salads, potatoes, meat, eggs, and dishes made from a tomato base. Adding Marjoram in the last 5-10 minutes of cooking brings out its best flavor. It pairs well, both flavor wise and magically speaking, with thyme, oregano, and basil, though other good partners for increasing harmony with Marjoram are cumin, marigold, rose, and saffron.
If, beyond the promotion of joy and harmony, magic is needed to help dispel sadness from the home, opening the way for a return to joy after grief or periods of depression, Marjoram can be paired with thyme as a wash or smudge to clear the dense energies. An oil made of Marjoram and Balm of Gilead buds can be used to anoint, bath, or massage someone suffering from grief to help this energy to move, providing some respite and promoting a transition from the stagnation that sorrow can bring. Another traditional pairing is Marjoram and violets, which were mixed together dried and worn as satchels in the winter months to ward off colds and viruses, while lifting moods.
Magical cooking with Marjoram
When working with herbs for magical cooking and other uses, make sure to first touch them and communicate your desired intention. It is enough to touch with your index finger while visualizing your intent, but taking the time to listen to your herb, taking in its scent and character, can also bring clearer understandings about how to use its medicine to best effect. Light a blue candle in your kitchen as you begin to cook. Instead of focusing on the problem, visualize the harmony and love you want to spread throughout your family overcoming any potential strife. See your connection strengthen and your home radiate with peace, joy, and good health.
Marjoram Massage Oil and Salt Scrub:
The Winter Holidays can be a time of stress for some, and the cold can bring up aches and pains in the body. Make a massage oil with Marjoram to help alleviate pain and stress.
Choose a carrier oil that is rich and warming. Almond oil would be an excellent choice. Add a little jojoba oil to increase the shelf life.
For every 1 oz of oil, add about 25 drops of high quality Sweet Marjoram essential oil.
Add 10 drops of chamomile or lavender essential oils to increase the scent and relaxing effect.
Make enough to bottle and leave about a cup to use for a salt scrub.
Take 4 cups of Pink Himalayan Salt (or Epsom Salt) and add 15 drops of Sweet Marjoram essential oil.
Pour your remaining cup of massage oil into the salt mixture and stir.
Store in a glass jar, and use frequently throughout the season. This can be used after washing in the shower, turning the water off while scrubbing your skin with the mixture, then rinsing away to leave you with soft, moisturized skin and renewed energy. It also makes a great addition to a relaxing bath. Be aware though, the bathtub or shower will become slippery.
Sodalite
Because of its rich, blue hue, Sodalite is often mistaken for the better known Lapis Lazuli. They share the enchanting deep blue of the sea, but they are not the same. Sodalite has threads of white Calcite woven into it, visually reminding us of the origin of its name, which means “Salt Stone” in Ancient Greek. Sodalite is a mineral with a high sodium content and an affinity for increasing calm, and cleansing the body and mind of toxic influence. It can help one to detach from the anxieties and stresses of everyday living, and to access a more broad perspective, where one’s life path, spiritual growth, and self-insight can be seen more clearly.
Sodalite pushes us to recognize patterns in our lives and outside of us. It can be an excellent ally for astrologists, philosophers, writers, psychics, and those engaged in ancestral healing. It increases intuition, while uniting the mind and heart, in order to encourage self-trust, clarity, and emotional intelligence. Helpful in lucid dreaming and dream recall, Sodalite opens the realm of the unconscious mind by removing the noise of worry and cleansing the mental poison that fear and guilt can create. While supporting meditation, healing, and intuitive travels through our personal and ancestral histories, Sodalite helps to ground these inquiries in the present, emphasizing the need for learning the lessons we currently face and taking the next steps on our paths towards alignment with our most authentic selves.
Increasing self-esteem and inner-trust, Sodalite can be a good support for those who need to feel more comfortable expressing themselves. It has been called ‘The Poet’s Stone’ because of its encouragement of seeing the beauty in life and the best in others. Well- being can be described as the combination of a clear mind, a sensitized heart, a fully present soul, and a calm nervous system. Wearing Sodalite, or spending time in crystal meditation, can help in accessing and integrating this kind of well-being, especially for those who find the everyday world too overwhelming. It helps in the recovery of hidden psychic gifts, while directing them towards positive thoughts, lighter emotions, and acts of healing, insight, and growth. Sodalite is a perfect ally for the Winter months, when the impulse to dream and look within increases, the light retreats and leaves many feeling emotionally vulnerable, and the pressures and activity of holidays ask for serene, engaged presence.
Suggestion for working with Marjoram & Sodalite:
Create a ritual of personal cleansing and self-adornment. Create the massage oil and salt scrub described above and begin your Winter days with a personal bathing ritual. A self-massage, moving upwards towards your lymph nodes, is a good way to move stagnant energy and support both physical and emotional health. Follow this with a bath, allowing your skin to absorb the oil more deeply in the warm water. Or, do the same process in the shower, using your salt scrub. For this season, fill some small bowls with Sodalite stones and place them around your bathroom or home (where they will not get wet). When you are finished bathing, adorn yourself in some form of Sodalite jewelry. Daily attention to physical, emotional, and psychic cleansing, even in this very simple and quick way, often yields the best results. We stay more in balance, when we take care of our mental, psychic, and emotional health, before difficult experiences and outside influences disrupt it.
How can you create a rhythm of well-being this Winter?
With blessings for harmony and warmth,
the eleventh house
-This blog was written by Melusina Gomez. For more information about her work and healing practices please visit www.metzmecatl.com