Making Magickal Teas by Rev. Carol A. Ingle (Raven)

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Making Magickal Teas

I am posting this article as in one of its tea recipes it contains my favourite Rooibos even though it is Chai (Rooibos mixed with cinnamon, vanilla, ginger, and lemongrass, it makes a wonderful herbal tea), but thought it prudent to incl. All the tea recipes. Enjoy! But note the Safety Precautions.

Making a magickal tea is a wonderful way to bring magick into your daily warm cup of tea. By combining herbs with magickal energies and holistic benefits, you can create a tea that assists you in whatever energy and magick you wish to draw into your life. There are different ways to make teas that have both holistic and magickal benefits.

1. Use herbs with holistic benefits that have magickal color correspondences.

2. Use herbs with holistic benefits that have magickal numerical correspondences.

3. Have a favorite loose tea? Add a small hint of an herb with magickal properties in it to draw those energies to you during your day.

How to make the blends

Through research, recommendation, and recipes suggested by herbal manuals and magickal guides, get together the herbs that you need. Have a clean work area, and use a clean bowl to mix the herbs in.

Safety Precautions

Do not blindly mix and match herbs. If you haven’t used an herb before, read up on it and research it! Make sure you know what the herb is, what it is meant to do, and if there are any side effects. People react differently to herbs, and it is important to know what herbs you will react well to. To be safe, herbs available in natural food stores and with tea suppliers are not poisonous. Use your head and avoid herbs that say “toxic” (duh) and come from a questionable source. If you are unsure about an herb, find out if it is consumable. Some are not. For example, wormwood and mistletoe are poisonous. And they taste disgusting. If you have any medical conditions or are on medication, then you need to find out if there are any herbs that could harm you. For example, there is a list of herbs that women who are pregnant should avoid. I always say: “When in doubt, throw it out.”

Once you have found herbs to your liking, make a small test sample. Some herbs taste better than others, and combining massive amounts of specific herbs can make a tea taste pretty gross. If you know some herbs taste pretty yucky together, you can add a “tea base.” That means you can get black tea, green tea, white tea, or rooibos tea to use in addition to the herbal tea blend you are putting together. Don’t drink your tea on an empty stomach. This is a personal guideline I follow. Have you ever gotten medication from the pharmacist that reads “take with food”? I use this same rule with tea blends.

Once the tea loose tea is prepared

Use a tea strainer, or tea bags to strain the blend. You can charge your tea, I.e., give your tea a “magickal kick,” a number of different ways. When stirring, stir in a clockwise direction. Stirring clockwise draws magickal energy into the tea.

Close your eyes while stirring the tea and envision the cup glowing brightly. You can also use color correspondences in this case, and envision the cup glowing in the color of the magickal energies you wish to draw in your life. For example, if you have a love tea, then envision the cup glowing red. If you have a tea for abundance and prosperity, then envision the cup glowing green.

Try saying a simple mantra, prayer, or incantation. It doesn’t have to be anything grand, or in Latin. Just something small to remind you of the magickal intent of your tea. One I use for prosperity is “Money, money, come to me. In shades of gold, in shades of green.”

For the more magickally minded, draw a circle or perform a ritual to consecrate the tea while it is still loose and dry. This is great if you made a large quantity of the tea, and wish to really charge it with the magick of the universe. Think about when you use the tea. By combining a tea with the magickal correspondences of the day of the week and the moon, you can use the tea when it is very potent.

Magickal Tea Recipes

Chai Love Tea

1 1/2 tsp. Chai Rooibos (or any rooibos)
1/4 tsp. Damiana ** Note: in large doses, damiana can be toxic to the liver. Eliminate this from your recipe completely if you are concerned.
1/2 tsp. Lemon Verbena
1/2 tsp. Catnip
Pinch of Cinnamon
Tiny pinch of Ginger

Bring water to a boil. Mix the tea blend with 1 1/2 cups of water. Add vanilla creamer to bring more loving energies (and yummy energies) of vanilla into the drink.

Psychic Tea

1 1/2 tsp. Black Tea
1/2 tsp. Mugwort
1/2 tsp. Thyme
1/2 tsp. Calendula
1/2 tsp. Jasmine

Bring water to an almost boil. Mix the tea blend with 1 1/2 cup of water. Add honey sweeten, or cinnamon for another “psychic energy boost.”

Healing Tea

1 tsp. Lavender
1 tsp. Chamomile
1 tsp. Rosehips
1/2 tsp. Echinacea
1/2 tsp. Eucalyptus
1/2 tsp. Spearmint

This recipe can make one strong cup of tea, or two cups of tea. Bring water to an almost boil. Add honey or lemon to flavor. Do not add milk, since it will curdle in this drink!

Study and Creativity Tea

1 1/2 tsp. Green Tea or Black Tea (I use a green tea with coconut and ginger in it)
1/2 tsp. Rosemary
1/2 tsp. Orange
1/2 tsp. Lemon Verbena
1/2 tsp. Yerba Mate

Bring water to an almost boil. Mix the tea blend with 1 1/2 cups of water. Add honey, milk, or lemon for flavor. Don’t add lemon and milk together--the milk will curdle!

(Bibliography)

Burnie, Geoffrey, ed. The Little Guide: Herbs. San Francisco, California: Fog City Press, 2000. Daniel, Marilyn F. Kitchen Witchery. Boston, MA: Weiser Books, 2002.
Dugan, Ellen. Natural Witchery: Intuitive, Personal, and Practical Magick. Woodbury, Minnesota: Llewelyn Publications, 2007.
Elkins, Rita, M.H. The Pocket Herbal, 2nd ed. Pleasant Grove, Utah: Woodland Publishing, 2002.
Hopman, Ellen Evert. A Druid’s Herbal For Sacred Earth Year. Rochester, Vermont:
Destiny Books, 1995.
Moura, Ann. Grimoire for the Green Witch. Woodbury, Minnesota: Llewelyn Publications, 2004.