Herbal Gifts : Post-Apocalyptic Bath Salts

We all have that special person in our life who is wonderful but very difficult to find a gift for.

We ask them for ideas and are given little to no answers. Still, we are bound and determined to create something for them that they'll enjoy and perhaps even be pleasantly surprised by. Combining both of the powers of enjoyment and surprise, it is with great pleasure that I present the herbal gift that I give to those most difficult of gift-giving cases - my Post-Apocalyptic Bath Salts.

Why such a reliance on this recipe for challenging cases, you may ask?

1. Honestly, if anything the surprise of giving a post-apocalyptic gift during the winter holiday season (or winter-themed summer holiday season as in the case of my marvelous southern hemisphere cleverkin), will be surprising and hopefully in the right sort of absurd, snort-through-their-nose with amusement that only an odd gift can bring.
2. My Post-Apocalyptic Bath Salts are healing and restorative without getting into too treacherous territory of overwhelming the non-herbally-inclined. They might think it is weird, but not primarily weird because it is one of your strange herbal concoctions (it will only be secondarily weird because of the involvement of your herbal practice).  

Be sure to follow my #DIYHerbalGifts series to create all three recipes including my Temple Bath Tea and Beautiful Buzz Honey Scrub.  Looking for labels to use for your herbal gifts? My Magick Mail subscribers get access to free labels to use in their herbal gifting!

Post-Apocalyptic Bath Salts

My Post-Apocalyptic Bath Salts are simple to make - if you can mix stuff together in a bowl you're set! The essential oils I chose are soothing to sore muscles (which is good because post-apocalyptic living is no easy thing) and a help to reinvigorate a weary mind (but not so much that you'll become the most prime of zombie brain-bait). 

Begin by mixing together your salts:

• 3 parts Epsom Salt
• 1 part Dead Sea Salt

Set them aside and mix together your carrier oil of choice and your essential oils. My favorite carrier oil (which is not a real oil, but a wax that is in liquid form) is Jojoba. You can use whatever you have on hand including Olive Oil, Coconut Oil (be sure to gently warm it first so that it is in liquid form), Sweet Almond Oil or any other carrier oil that you prefer. To every 1 carrier ounce oil add the following essential oils:

• 3 drops Texas Cedarwood
• 3 drops Frankincense
• 2 drops Juniper Berry
• 1 drop Clove Bud

Mix together roughly 1 cup (more or less depending on your preferences and if you like a drier or oilier bath salt blend) of your salt mixture with 1 ounce of your oil blend. If you have the time, keep in a sealed jar and shake daily for a week, letting all of the oils and salts mix together in a marvelous, I-survived-the-end-of-times blend! To use, add 1/4 to 1 cup of salts to your bath water or a bowl of hot water (if you'll be using this as a foot soak or in a shower) and enjoy! Remember the days when the sky was blue and zombies were only on TV...

Be sure to check out the rest of the #DIYHerbalGifts series and all of my recipes and tutorials!  I have also put together a recipe book full of healing and fun recipes for the winter holidays. The Winter Apothecary can be purchased in my shop and is currently on sale through the month of December!

Herbal Gifts : Temple Bath Tea

Creating simple herbal gifts for friends and family is an easy and inexpensive way to spread cheer while practicing your remedy-making skills.

I think Bath Teas are a very accessible form of herbal healing: they are easy to use, don't require anyone to drink anything "too earthy" or "weird" (you know those folks in your life, bless them), and can even be used by those who don't have a bathtub (more on that below!).

Another great advantage of giving herbal gifts is using up herbs that need a home so that they don't fall into disuse in the back of your tea cupboard. Better to give that jar of Juniper Berries a home than watch them languish away - we better respect an herb's gift of healing when we actually use them. 

I created the Temple Bath Tea last year for my friends and family and I'm happy to share the recipe with you as the first in our #DIYHerbalGifts series. Temple is a skin-nourishing blend of herbs with a gentle forest scent mixed with epsom salts for additional calming and pain-relieving qualities. 

Temple Bath Tea

Begin by mixing together the following herbs. The recipe uses parts which means that you can make a batch as large or small as you like. A part, for example, might be 1 cup or 3 tablespoons depending on how much bath tea you want to make. So, if you choose 1 cup = 1 part as your measurement you would add 3 cups of Juniper Berries with 3 cups of Strawberry Leaf and 1 cup of Passionflower Leaf and so on.

• 3 parts Juniper Berry (Juniperus communis)
• 3 parts Strawberry Leaf (Fragaria vesca)
• 3 parts Comfrey Leaf (Symphytum officinale)
• 1 part Passionflower Leaf (Passiflora incarnata)
• 1 part Blackberry Leaf (Rubus fruticosus)
• 1 part Cedar Leaf (Thuja plicata)

For every 1 part of your herbal blend add 1 to 2 parts of epsom salts. You then have two choices on how to proceed. You can either add about 1/2 to 1 cup of your bath blend to a large sealable tea bag (I like the large Press 'N Brew Tea Bags ones you can get from Mountain Rose Herbs) or a large reusable muslin tea bag. Your other option is to put the bath salts in a appropriately sized jar and let folks scoop out the amount they want when they want to use it. Either way, I do recommend letting your salt and herb mixture "brew" in a sealed jar for a few days to a week to help the scents and energies of the herbs blend together.

Finish up your gift by including instructions for use to help folks actually use their gift as well as an ingredient list so folks can be informed of what they are putting on their skin. Looking for labels to use for your herbal gifts? I'll be posting free labels to my Magick Mail subscribers later this month!

How To Use Your Temple Bath Tea

• Option 1: Add 1/2 - 1 cup of bath tea to your bath either directly in a tea bag or loose. Remember that adding it loose to your bath requires cleaning up the herbs afterwards.
• Option 2: Brew your bath tea ahead of time! Add 1/2 - 1 cup of bath tea to a large bowl or jar and cover with hot water and let steep for at least 15 - 20 minutes. This is a great option for folks who want to use the bath tea as a wash if they don't have a bath or if you're using the bath tea loose leaf because you can strain the tea before adding it to your bath. This is my favorite way of preparing a bath tea.
• Option 3: Feeling super stressed by someone or something in particular? Take a handful of bath salts and throw it at them while yelling "NOPE!" to powerfully communicate that you are done with their nonsense.

Be sure to check out the rest of the Herbal Gifts series and all of my recipes and tutorials!  I have also put together a recipe book full of healing and fun recipes for the winter holidays. The Winter Apothecary can be purchased in my shop and is currently on sale through the month of December!

Stay tuned for our next recipe - it's full of healing buzz!

Winter Solstice: Recipes of Mirth + Brightness

If we take time to seek out mirth in the darkness, we're bound to find it during the long nights of winter. I probably create and dream of more new recipes during the winter months than any other time of the year. Perhaps it is the flow of introspective energy or maybe its all the twinkling lights that send my mind musing on new ways to connect with our plant allies. Maybe it all comes down to my love of giving and receiving gifts, full of surprises and shouts of glee, and practicing generosity towards ourselves and our community.

Juniper Liniment

I created this liniment as a topical treatment for inflammation, sore and stiff muscles, and as a sacred forest anointing water to celebrate long winter nights. Juniper is a cleansing and protective herb, well suited to the work of pulling pain from the mind, body, and spirit.

• 8 oz Organic Juniper Berry (Juniperuscommunis)

• 300 ml Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) Extract

• Optional essential oil blend:

  • 3 drops Clove Bud (Syzygium aromaticum) Essential Oil

  • 3 drops Sweet Orange (Citrus sinensis) Essential Oil

  • 3 drops Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum) Essential Oil

  • 6 drops Juniper (Juniperus communis) Essential Oil

  • 6 drops Rosemary (Rosemarinus officinalis) Essential Oil

Begin by creating an extract by combining your ground up Juniper Berries with the Witch Hazel. Let brew for a full cycle of the Moon, shaking and singing to daily. Strain the Juniper Berries from the Witch Hazel and you can either bottle the beautiful brew now or add the optional essential oil blend. I take the leftover Juniper Berries and wrap them up in cheesecloth and add them to my evening bath.

To use your Juniper Liniment make sure to shake the bottle up and then add some to a clean cloth. Use the cloth to either wrap or rub on the liniment to the area causing you discomfort such as aching knees or sore shoulders. You can also add the brew to a spray bottle and apply the liniment by spraying it on the affected area. The liniment should keep for a number of years if stored in a cool, dark place when not in use.

Winter Sun Sugar Scrub

While I haven't been a fan of traditional sugar scrubs that use white sugar, I think coconut sugar is pretty swell since it is not only healthier for the body than standard processed sugar but is a more environmentally sustainable source of sweetness. The Winter Sun Sugar Scrub is like the right sort of candy for the body combining the exfoliating qualities of sugar with healing herbs and essential oils. Chamomile, like other bright, sun-like herbs, are wonderful during the winter months aligning our earthly bodies with celestial signs (since herbs like Chamomile and Calendula are well suited to the signs of Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces) and bringing cheer to dark nights.

• 1 cup Coconut Sugar

• 1 tablespoon Chamomile (Matricariachamomilla) Powder OR 2 tablespoons whole Chamomile Flowers

• 1 - 2 tablespoons Sweet Almond Oil

• 2 drops Clove Bud (Syzygium aromaticum) Essential Oil

• 1 drop Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) Essential Oil

• 2 drops Sweet Orange (Citrus sinensis) Essential Oil

• Optional Essence blend:

  • 1 drop Chamomile Flower Essence

  • 1 drop Oak Flower Essence

  • 1 drop Sage Flower Essence

Mix all ingredients together while dancing and store in an airtight container. Use by rubbing the blend onto damp skin and then washing off, leaving your skin sunshiny and smooth.

Solstice Bath Tea

I created this blend as one of the many holiday remedies I'm sharing with friends and family this year. Bath teas are an accessible and easy-to-use form of herbal medicine. Toss them in a tub and don't worry about the taste! Our Solstice Bath Tea is full of skin-nourishing herbs that also work wonders on soothing the nervous system. A lovely bath blend for folks of all ages right before bed!

• 1 part Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) Flowers

• 1 part Elder (Sambucus nigra) Flowers

• 1 part Calendula (Calendula officinalis) Flowers

• Optional:

  • Add 1-2 cups of healing salts to every cup of herbs

  • Add one or more of the Winter Solstice Flower Essences depending on your need

Mix all the flowers together in a golden blend while singing songs of merriment. Add 1/4 - 1 cup of Solstice Bath Tea to every bath either by adding the flowers directly into the water or wrapped in cheesecloth. Alternatively, you can brew the Bath Tea ahead of time for 20 minutes to a few hours, strain, and then add to your bath water which allows you to access more of the medicinal qualities out of the blend.

I hope you enjoyed these recipes for your winter festivities! I’ve written a lot more about winter wellness and herbs of the season since writing this post in 2013 so be sure to check out the following posts if you’re looking for extra inspiration:

• How to Create a Winter Wellness Apothecary

• Healing & Magickal Practices for Winter

• Winter Warmer: A Gentle Adaptogenic Tea

• Darkest Night: A Winter Solstice Spread

• A Might-Do List for Yule

Wherever the season takes you may it be full of merriment and joy!