Making Magical Flower Potions

“It’s only by becoming familiar with poisons that you can make the best antidotes.”
– Aprilynne Pike

Nature has been kind in Her gifts to humankind. You have so many things from which to choose to make your magical potions. One of the options some people overlook is the mystical world of flowers. Many flowers are wholly edible and were used in meals through the Victorian Era. Flowers have properties and energetic signatures you can use to align with a specific magickal intention. So, why not scope out some petal power for your magick potions?

6 Tips for Powerful Magickal Flower Potions

In preparing your own flower and plant foods and beverages, two factors rise above all the others listed here as crucial for success. The first important factor is freshness. Flowers, fruits, herbs, and vegetables are something you can buy in preserved form when nothing else is available (practicality is part of the Green Witch’s rule-book). But from a magickal perspective, freshly harvested items bear a stronger energy signature that, in turn, increases your overall power. When choosing flowers for magickal potions, there are plenty of influencing factors to take into consideration.

1. Ensure Freshness: Gather your ingredients just before preparing them whenever possible. Make sure to get only the petals. No green parts unless otherwise instructed by the recipe. These green parts can ruin the aroma or flavor of a dish.

Harvest your flowers just after the dew evaporates no later than 10:30 AM; this way, the petals will have a higher concentration of essential oil (the oil is the most aromatic and savory part).

Handle the petals carefully, storing them in muslin or a nylon mesh bag, in a cool area, and use them as soon as possible. Once wilted, their taste is far less enjoyable; this also applies to leafy vegetables.

2. Temperature: The second important consideration is temperature. Some types of flora are especially sensitive to heat. When starting a batch of brew with flower petals, you do not boil as you would with many other preparations. Instead, gently simmer the petals until they turn translucent; this extracts the oils without burning.

Slower cooking with vegetable oil yields a more pleasant result and brings out a full-bodied flavor that fast preparation does not offer. If you are wondering about the mention of vegetables here, you are in for a surprise. Some vegetables produce edible flowers, including cauliflower, broccoli, and artichokes.

3. Allergies: A third consideration that people frequently overlook is physical sensitivity. Certain plants yield high amounts of pollen or other allergens. So, if you, or anyone for whom you are cooking, are adversely affected by specific flowers or plants, generally avoid those items. It is not worth the risk. Find another edible flower or plant with similar magickal correspondences that will work in the recipe instead.

4. Use Organic Flowers: If you are not growing your items, try to buy organic ones. Traces of chemical fertilizers or pesticides can taint or hinder magickal methods. Also, make sure anything you cook with is free of everyday debris-any bits of mold, dirt, and the like; this is just common sense, but a quick rinse with cool water also has a spiritual cleansing quality that certainly wouldn’t hurt!

5. Timing: Bear in mind time constraints and the theme of the magick. While it is great to work during auspicious time frames, life does not always cooperate. Choose your magickal menus to match your schedule, personal tastes, and needs. You will want to be able to focus on your goals rather than worrying over the hour, and edible magick will not do you much good if you do not like the food or beverage created!

6. Tools: Finally, as far as tools go, you will find just about everything you need to prepare these recipes right in your kitchen. As with gardening, remember that Kitchen magic is a sacred art, so treat everything − measuring cups, a wooden spoon, the ingredients, and so forth − as you would the tools of your altar, and you’ll do just fine.

Magickal Considerations for Flower Potions

There is nothing difficult about magickal cooking and brewing. Since creating sacred space and generating magick ultimately begins with a different way of thinking and acting, the main adjustment you will be making for pantry enchantments is your attitude while you cook or brew. We already talked about treating your kitchen tools a little differently, and that concept also goes for your working space. Approach it gently and thoughtfully, knowing this is a type of sanctuary-this is where you will whip up the spiritual energy to perfection.

As you gather ingredients and blend them, every step is something you aim at a specific theme. It is why you should not try to make magickal menus when angry or out-of-sorts. The negativity tends to spill over into the food, which is not what you want!

Besides shifting your demeanor to a semi-meditative, metaphysical mode, you will also want to consider some of the methods used by our ancestors to improve the manifesting power of pantry enchantments. These methods include:

• Stirring a preparation clockwise to attract positive energy or counterclockwise to banish problems.
• Preparing anything that rises or ferments during a waxing to full moon to ensure the successful preparation of the food or beverage.
• Making an offering to one’s hearth God or Goddess before preparing any magickal meals. It attracts the Being’s blessing and provides more positive energy with which to cook. It even ensures the healthful qualities of your culinary efforts.
• Leaving out gifts for the hob (the house fairy) who helps with brewing and cooking.
• Sweep the kitchen floor (using a broom or besom) from the center outward to get rid of any lingering negativity.
• Pray over the food or beverage as you are preparing it, or just prior to consumption.
• Pass the food or beverage clockwise around the table to encourage ongoing blessings for all those gathered there.
• Have a candle burning while you cook or at the family table as a symbol of love and unity, or to honor the God/dess (consider color associations).
• Burn incense with an aroma that matches the goal of the magick you are whipping up in the food or beverage (this acts as an additional sensual cue that helps guide willpower).
• Play music, sing, chant, or dance while you cook (Remembering safety as you do so, of course). No one ever said cooking couldn’t be fun. Joy is a powerful energy for supporting magickal undertakings.

The above tips are but a few of how you can bring more magick into your kitchen. What is most important is that the actions and symbols you add to the “normal” cooking process have real meaning for you. When that happens, the magick flows exactly right. The results? Feeding body, mind, and soul from one platter or cup equally well!

Flower Potion Recipes

You will likely greet most people who visit with a beverage. Be it coffee, tea, soda, or homemade wines and beers, this seems to be the gesture of hospitality. In this case, you are going to go one step further and make magickally-enhanced beverages to suit the theme of any meeting or those that will spiritually help with fulfilling personal needs and goals.

This sampling includes both alcoholic and non-alcoholic flower and plant beverages. Similarly, you can use ingredients that are hopefully readily found in the Green Witch’s Garden or on the pantry shelves.

Cordial Communication

(For message spells, improved conversations, and persuasive speeches.)

History and Folklore: The beverage below comes from Prussia and has been in use since the Middle Ages, where it was made to smooth speech and open the lines of communication. Cloves were favored then as a breath freshener and something to “sweeten” one’s words.

– 1 cup of water
– 1 cup heather honey
– 1 small cinnamon stick
– 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
– 1 whole clove
– 2 cups vodka or rum

In a saucepan (preferably non-aluminum), bring the water to a low rolling boil. Add the remaining ingredients except for the alcohol and stir regularly until the honey dissolves completely. Skim the froth off the surface and cool the liquid, then add the vodka and bottle it. I recommend letting the entire mix sit for two weeks before consuming it.

Alternative Ingredients:To improve the power of speech, replace the vanilla with mint or almonds (the nuts can be put right into your storage bottle). You might also consider storing this beverage with a carnelian stone (like a Crystal Elixir) in the container. (If you do, make sure to strain out the stone before drinking!)

Other Magickal Uses: Dab a little of this on your lips or tongue before invoking the quarters or incanting a spell to communicate the message more effectively.

Yields: 3 cups.

Fairy Folk Mead

(For communing with devic entities, fairy folk, and plant spirits)

History and Folklore: Primroses were sometimes called fairy cups. Europeans believed that the wee people sometimes took shelter in this blossom during storms. Also called cowslips, this flower was among those considered sacred to Flora (Roman) and Chloris (Greek), both of whom make wonderful patronesses for Witches. The pinch of thyme in this recipe also invokes fairy energies.

– 2 quarts primrose heads
– 1 lemon
– 2 oranges
– 1-gallon water
– 3 pounds honey
– 1/2 package mead or wine yeast
– Pinch of thyme (optional)

Primroses can be brewed from dried petals quite effectively, or you can freeze fresh ones until you are ready to make this mead. Place the petals in a crock. Wash and peel the lemon and oranges and get rid of as much pit on the rinds as possible. Place the rinds with the flowers and squeeze the juices over the flowers and rinds.

In a separate pot, warm the water and honey together until the honey dissolves. Bring to a boil for the next 10-15 minutes and skim the excess that rises to the surface. Cool for another 10-15 minutes before pouring this liquid over the flower mixture. Let cool to lukewarm. Stir regularly.

Next, add the yeast dissolved in one-quarter cup warm water and thyme. Cover with a towel and let the blend sit for five days, mixing it once a day. Strain and move the clear fluid to a glass container with a fermentation lock (or your makeshift one). When all signs of fermentation cease, decant and bottle.

Alternative Ingredients: Some folks like to add a touch of pineapple sage (about two tablespoons) to this mixture for a slightly zesty flavor. Magickally this will provide you with the wisdom necessary for dealing effectively with plant spirits and devas. Two other ingredients you can consider adding are heather flowers and strawberries, both of which attract fairies and mingle well with the other ingredients.

Other Magickal Uses: Leave a bit of this elixir in your fairy garden or pour it out as a libation in any ritual, spell, or meditation that is focused on devic entities.

Yields: 1 Gallon

Peaceful Petaled Soda-Pop

(For harmony, symmetry, accord, acceptance)

History and Folklore: All the flowers in this recipe are chosen because of their magickal association with energies for compatibility, flexibility, and hospitality. Lavender generates tranquility, violets generate good-heartedness and heal old emotional wounds, and pennyroyal (a kind of mint) inspires peace between people or within yourself.

– 1/2 cup lilac petals
– 2 teaspoons lavender flowers
– 2 teaspoons pennyroyal
– Sweetener to taste
– 1 white rose (white is the color of peace)
– 1 teaspoon violet petals, chopped
– 1 1/2 cups carbonated water (seltzer)

Simmer your flowers in just enough plain water, so the petals are covered. Wait until the petals turn translucent, gently squeeze the petals into the water, and then add the carbonated water and sweetener. By the way, without the carbonated water, this makes a lovely magickal finger bowl for inspiring gentle writing (for letters), kind handshakes, and for dipping into just before a long, hand-in-hand walk with your lover.

Alternative Ingredients: If you are not preparing this to bring peace to a struggling relationship, change it to a red rose. Also, if you are not a big fan of flowers, you can use one cup of warm apple juice with a fresh sprig of mint to achieve the same results.

Other Magickal Applications: Try dabbing a bit of this in any room or area where there has been a lot of anger or tension. As you recite an incantation, focus on peaceful energies filling the air.

Yields: 1 1/2 to 2 cups.

Psychic Juice

(For prophecy, insight, vitality, love, and service)

History and Folklore: This beverage comes to us from Arabia. Lore suggests Mohammed gave birth to the main ingredient-rose geraniums-quite innocently by tossing his shirt over a mallow plant. In old folk traditions, a witch would plant a specially enchanted rose geranium near his or her doorway to announce guests’ arrival. If you keep a pot of red geraniums in your home, it provides energy for health and safety, while the pink variety inspires love. The other flowers in this recipe have long been in used in divination efforts.

– 1-quart apple juice (cider or sparkling cider are also options)
– 1 cup sugar (or to taste)
– 1 cup mixed marigold, pansy, and meadowsweet blossoms
– 1 lime, sliced
– 1 orange, sliced
– 8 rose geranium leaves

Warm the apple juice, sugar, and flower petals and leaves for five to ten minutes until sugar is dissolved. To this, add the sliced lime and orange and allow the mixture to cool. Strain and bottle the liquid, and place in the refrigerator until you wish to consume it. You can serve it hot or cold (if hot, try adding allspice, berry, or cinnamon sticks). It remains fresh as long as apple juice does when you refrigerate it.

Alternative Ingredients: Geraniums can be replaced with either dandelions or six whole bay leaves for similar magickal results. You can use wine in place of Apple Juice for a longer-lasting brew.

Other Magickal Uses: Dab a bit of this wine on your doors or windowsills to protect your home. Also, geraniums come in a variety of scents, so a mint geranium wine might be consumed for prosperity or passion, whereas a nutmeg geranium beverage could be quaffed for luck and devotion.

Yields: 1 quart.

Romantic Tea

(For uplifting the spirit of love and beauty)

History and Folklore: The main ingredient in this tea, rose petals, has been used for thousands of years to motivate emotion. Ancient Greeks considered roses the primary symbol of love and beauty, having been born from Aphrodite’s blood. Cleopatra used roses to inspire Marcus Antonius’ adoration, and Romans often littered the floors of rooms with rose petals during marriage ceremonies. All the other ingredients in this recipe also have romantic or loving magickal correspondences.

– 2 cups rose petals
– 2 cups water
– 1/2 teaspoon lemon balm
– 1/4 in. ginger root, pounded
– Pinch rosemary (optional)
– Sugar or honey to taste
– 3 catnip leaves
– 1 orange slice
– Vanilla bean (for stirring)

Cover the rose petals with water and simmer over a low flame until the petals become translucent. Strain off the liquid, returning it to the original pan to warm with the remaining ingredients (except the vanilla bean and sweetener). Simmer until the liquid is heady with aroma, approximately five to 10 minutes. Pour into two cups and stir in sweetener using the vanilla bean. Enjoy with someone you love.

Alternative Ingredients: There are a lot of love flowers and spices that you can consider substituting, including spearmint, thyme, raspberry leaf, or fruit), marjoram, lemon or lime slices, lavender flowers, daisy petals, violets, and basil.

Other Magickal Applications: If you make more of this, it is an excellent beverage to serve in a group setting to encourage unity and harmony. I also recommend it for handfasting rituals, magickal engagement rites, and similar events.

Yields: 2 cups.

Serendipity Wine

(For good fortune and improved health)

History and Folklore: Honeysuckle, the main ingredient in this recipe, is also called ·woodbine in folk traditions. If honeysuckle suddenly starts growing near your home, it is a sign of improving luck. This plant spirit will also protect your family’s health (the orange in this recipe accents the healthful qualities).

– 4 cups honeysuckle blossoms
– 1-gallon water
– 2 oranges, sliced and juiced
– 1/2 package wine yeast
– 6 cups sugar

Place the blossoms in a large crock. In another pot, warm one half the gallon of water to just below boiling, then pour it over the petals. Allow this mixture to sit until the blossoms turn almost translucent. Strain and rewarm the orange juice, sugar pieces, and yeast (to no more than 98° F).

Place into a fermentation container with a lock until the liquid becomes clear. A serviceable fermentation device can be from an old glass wine bottle secured at the top with a balloon (be sure the bottle is clean). Strain off into smaller bottles when the wine looks clear and store in a cool dark area for consumption. It keeps for an exceptionally long time.

Alternative Ingredients: Rose or violet petals are both considered incredibly lucky, and roses augment vitality. You can decrease the number of flowers and steep them in grape juice with a bit of honey for a non-alcoholic alternative.

Other Magickal Uses: Dab a bit on items that you carry for good fortune, or carry a small, well-sealed vial with you as a charm for luck. Pour out a libation of this wine during healing spells and rituals.

Yields: 1 gallon.

Solitary May Bowl

(For success, prosperity, and protection, especially in battles)

History and Folklore: The beautiful white woodruff blossoms are sacred to the Goddess, which is why it is a featured item in Beltane Wine (May 1). In pre-Christian times, people used woodruff to scent various drinks, and in the Middle Ages, it became popular as an overall tonic. Strawberries add a delightful flavor and magickal joy to the equation.

– 1 handful of fresh sweet woodruff with blossoms
– 2-3 whole strawberries
– 3 cups cider or apple juice
– 1 orange slice
– 2 teaspoons sugar

Rinse the Woodruff and fresh strawberries thoroughly. Place the rest of the ingredients together in a bowl and mix well. To increase the flavor, warm the cider or juice first. Chill the bowl for a minimum of one hour before straining and pouring into a large glass to enjoy. Garnish with berries. A great springtime refresher!

Alternative Ingredients: For a drink with greater spiritual cleansing qualities, add a slice of lemon in place of the orange and add one to two whole cloves. Both versions of this may be served hot with a stick of cinnamon.

Other Magickal Uses: Carry a well-sealed vial of this with you as a charm that will attract victory and financial gain. If you wrap or dab some in leather, it will keep you from harm.

Yields: 3 cups.

Wish Tonic

(For manifestation, new beginnings, bountiful success)

History and Folklore: Daisies and dandelions have long been used in magickal wishing customs. Clover brings luck, pansy restores hope, honey attracts life’s sweetness, and sage balances our hopes and dreams with a little wisdom.

– 1 teaspoon dried clover flowers
– 1 cinnamon stick
– Petals from one daisy, one pansy, and one dandelion
– 1/4 teaspoon sage
– 1 cup hot water
– Honey to taste

Put the petals, clover flowers, and sage into a tea ball or gauze bundle and steep in hot water until the tea is heady with aroma. Stir in the honey clockwise to generate positive energy, focusing on your wishes as you do. Stir with a cinnamon stick.

Alternative Ingredients: If your wish centers on personal health, use apple and/or orange tea instead of the flowers and petals. Stir with a stick of cinnamon for increased power.

Other Magickal Uses: Carry the dried, blessed components in a container with you. Then, when a wish comes up, scatter the petals to the winds so they can carry your desire to all of creation.

Yields: 1 cup.

Make your Own Flower Potion Blends

This article has given you a launching area. Take what you learned from the various recipes and their magical correspondences, then try whipping up some flower power and magickal potions of your own. Make sure to write down the recipes if it is something you like and has a positive manifestation of your goal.

– Cheers! –