I’m so excited to start discussing plants with you. Everybody needs plants in their life. Gardening in and of itself is more Taylor’s thing (I say this because she is far better at it than I am.) BUT I myself love to putz around in the dirt. Whereas Taylor will be focusing more on care of plants, cultivation and propagation; I will be focusing on “what’s this plant, can I eat it, what are it’s uses?” as well as the history, lore, and magic in said plants”-especially herbs-but all plants.

So many modern solutions and fixes still have their roots (haha, roots) in the ancient study of herbology. Humans have been studying and relying on the magic of plants for thousands of years, and there’s a lot of wisdom you can draw from if you’re willing to take the time to learn. And no study of herbology would be complete without first starting with the queen of all herbs. 

The Dew of the Sea: Rosmarinus officinalis, also known as Elf Leaf. 

Throughout the ages Rosemary has been used for not only culinary purposes but medicinal and spiritual ones as well. Its uses are almost endless and steeped in tradition. It’s easy to grow and care for; and it’s almost as good dry as it is fresh. If there is one plant on the planet I will love forever, it is Rosemary. Its one of those plants whos aroma I immediately associate with warmth, peace, and calm; which is apropos considering the over-arching commonalities we’re about to discuss all center around clarity, purification, and love. 

History + Lore:  

Rosemary hails from the Mediterranean and the original myth was that Aphrodite was draped in the magical plant when she rose from the sea born of Uranus’s semen, whilst not the most romantic of stories, being so heavily associated with the goddess of Love’s origin story may play a heavy part in why the plant later became so closely tied with love.  

Culinary, Nutrition, and Medicinal Uses:  

From a culinary standpoint, you really cannot go wrong with this herb. Aside from its amazing flavor and aromatics it is high in anti-oxidants, anti-microbial and is heavily used in anti-inflammatory diets. It can help improve blood circulation, fight free radicals, and some studies are even beginning to show consistent evidence of its ability to help maintain brain function and fight Alzheimer’s (for more info on this see HERE). In older medicinal practices, it was used to improve memory. It can also help lower blood sugar. It is high in Iron and Vitamin B6 and can be taken orally as well as used topically for eczema and skin inflammation. It has also been used historically in skin care to tone skin and reduce redness. Much of Europe also uses the herb to treat indigestion. 

Rosemary can be used to season meat (rosemary is king when it comes to seasoning lamb), baked into breads, steeped into teas, infused into oils, and made into all kinds of balms and tinctures. A more versatile herb you will not find anywhere in the world. From a practical standpoint it can also be used to repel insects; in your garden but also I also like to put a bit into my campfires and the smoke keeps the mosquitos away.  

Symbolism:  

Among other things, rosemary has long been a symbol of love. In ancient times brides traditionally wore a headpiece of Rosemary and even into modern times have been known to include it in their bouquets. It is also typically symbolic of friendship, loyalty, and remembrance- thus is typically one of the plants carried by funeral mourners. It is also commonly used to symbolize the cycle of life from death to the rebirth of Spring. 

Spirituality: 

Rosemary is closely associated with the Third Eye Chakra and Spiritual Clarity. Common uses include smudges used to cleanse and sanctify spaces, inclusion in dream sachets to produce clear dreams and deep sleep, clairvoyant rituals, protection spells, alter representations, healing, memory spells, and (historically) love spells (though I morally don’t support that). Among the many things that make Rosemary the Queen of magical herbs is the fact that Rosemary can be used in mixes to amplify most other forms of magic as well.  

Again, it can be cooked into things or steeped. It can be dried and tucked into wreathes, garlands, protective symbols, or made into sigils. you can burn it, turn it into anointing oils, and use it in your common day to day aroma therapy practices to help focus meditation and mindfulness as well as reduce anxiety. 

Care: 

Rosemary is a hardy little plant, with its woody stems and deep growing roots. It will grow from year to year if maintained well. Since it hails from the sea swept coasts of the Mediterranean she prefers temperatures of 68-86 degrees Fahrenheit with soil temperatures above 65 degrees. If you live somewhere colder I would suggest growing her inside, or in a greenhouse (side note for those who think greenhouses are a pipe-dream: there are some decent sized portable ones on Amazon until we can all be millionaires and afford the Victorian grow house of our dreams). Rosemary is drought tolerant and prefers sandy loamy soil that is well draining as well as full sun. It can survive in mid sun provided you do not over water it. you want to fully let the soil dry out between watering as over watering can lead to root rot.  

Whether you are buying it or growing it (I would encourage you to try growing your own), Rosemary is more than worth it.  

All the best,  

Mikaela

Ostara is behind us, and Easter is approaching quickly… so let’s talk eggs.

If you either celebrate Ostara or have read our post, you will know that painted eggs are often a part of the holiday. More likely though, you are aware of the Christian tradition of Easter Eggs. Right about now if you go into any grocery store across the United States, you can most likely find Easter egg dye kits front and center, just inside the door. I know growing up in a Catholic household, we looked forward to the family getting together and dipping hard boiled eggs into vinegar-based dyes.

Decorated eggs aren’t just limited to pastels, food dye, and Easter though. In cultures around the world, eggs have been seen as symbols of fertility, the circle of life, new life, un-hatched potential, hope and purity. Additionally, eggs are easy to come by and comparatively cheap (though it may not seem that way currently) which has made them a staple in households in one way or another around the world. By that logic, it really isn’t a surprise that decorating eggs is one of the oldest decorative arts and that humans have developed many different styles and traditions.

So lets talk about a couple different ways to play with this fun tradition and where they come from. I am going to focus more on traditional, can do at home egg decorating. That means that I am NOT going into the history of Faberge eggs or how to carve them out of stone. Instead, I want to talk about dying, painting, scratching, and (if you are a bit more motivated) engraving eggs.

Ostrich Egg Engraving & Etching

So I realize that this is a bit of a stretch when it comes to being duplicatable at home BUT it is doable, on my list of projects to attempt, AND one of the most ancient forms of egg decorating so I absolutely had to include it. Dating back as far as 65,000 years ago it is believed that the hunter-gatherers of the Kalahari desert used Ostrich eggs for storing water. Archeologists have long known of decorated pieces of shells with designs that could be decorative or marks of individual owners. Over time this has evolved and become more detailed and decorative rather than utilitarian and today, a carved, engraved, or etched ostrich egg can be quite ornate and sell for hundreds of dollars.

I have done some research into different techniques. Etching seems fairly easy as you basically paint etching cream in the design or picture you wish, let it sit according to the creams’ instructions, and then rinse the egg. Engraving is a bit more technical but can be accomplished by using a fine engraving tip on a Dremel and then using a fine knife for detail work. Do I sense a future project?

Scratched Chicken Eggs

In the same family as Ostrich egg engraving, as early as the 4th century, we can see chicken eggs decorated by scratching designs into the shell in Worms, Germany. Yes- that is a real place and one of the oldest cities in northern Europe. Scratching designs into shells is still a fun way to decorate, a bit more accessible than engraving Ostrich eggs, and just different enough from the classic dyed easter eggs that you can feel fancy showing them off to your friends. Brown hen eggs can be scratched right away to reveal white designs or white ones can be dyed and then scratched. This can be done a variety of ways and you can use a needle, nail, awl, Xacto knife, razor blade, Dremel, engraver… you get the point. Manual tools are easier to control depth and shading but electric tools such as a Dremel will speed

things up. Simple dot and stripe patterns are an easy starting point (pun intended) and floral motifs are classic.

Dyed Chicken Eggs

Drum roll please…. Let’s say it all together now. DYED EGGS. When I was researching I found dyed eggs in a lot of different cultures and for a lot of different occasions. Easter gets talked about a lot because Christianity is widespread with a large number of practitioners, but dyed eggs have been around a lot longer than Christianity. The original dyed egg can be traced back, once again to the ancient, decorated Ostrich eggs of Africa where they were dyed red with ochre. It is theorized that this practice may have traveled from Africa with the movement of our ancestors up into Eurasia and then Europe.

Let’s talk about a couple more current examples though. Similar to the red Ostrich eggs, hen eggs were dyed red and displayed on alters for Nowruz (on the vernal equinox) in ancient Persia and this tradition can still be seen in various Persian and Turkish faiths though the color palate has expanded. Judaism has a similar tradition where, for Passover, they display a pure white roast egg on their sedar plate. Pagans traditionally would dye and paint eggs to give as gifts when celebrating the Spring equinox. The exact origin of Easter eggs is a bit murky but common theories are that the Jewish Passover egg or the Pagan gift eggs were then adopted by Mesopotamian Orthodox Christians and dyed red to symbolize the blood of Christ. Are you seeing a trend yet? Regardless of the true origin, this red egg is what later became the Easter egg that we currently enjoy in many colors.

Originally the dyes were made from plants and what was found in nature but eventually as new colors were desired and created, many toxic fabric dyes were used. Obviously, there is more known about the harm involved and it is no longer recommended. Science has progressed and you can easily get food friendly dyes readily from the grocery store OR for more natural colors and a traditional feel you can play with the following kitchen bits and plants from the garden:

The list goes on! There are so many natural dyes and adjusting how long they are in the dyes, how long dyes are boiled, and even if the eggs are washed or not can affect the colors. Experiment a little or a lot! A good step by step process on how to make and use the dye can be googled easy but a good one I have used is HERE. You can also play with patterns by wrapping rubber bands around eggs before dying or using wax to protect the shell from dye in patterns. In northern Britain and Scandinavia, impressions of leaves and flowers are made by affixing them against the egg, wrapping them in onion skins and then boiling the eggs. This is easily replicated by wrapping the egg and leaf or flower in panty hose and dyeing the egg however you want.

Wax Resist (Pysanky)

This is technically still dying eggs, but I felt it needed to separated into its own category. The is advanced dying. Simple in concept but precise and very time consuming.

Originally dating back to pre-Christian times, pysanky has become a Ukrainian Easter tradition. They often show complex geometric, floral, and even lace designs and are made using the wax resist method. A design is drawn on the egg in wax using a type of stylus called a kistka. The egg is then dipped into a dye, dried and a new layer of wax is drawn on and the egg is then dyed again. This process is repeated in layers starting with the lightest dyes and ending with the darkest being applied. If you are interested in trying your hand at this amazing art style, I was able to locate a booklet through the Library of Congress from the American Folklife Center that details the process and gives a great starting point (find it HERE).

Painted Eggs

Painted eggs are as old as dyed eggs and honestly pretty much the same historically BUT painting instead of dying means you can use different techniques and, in my experience, get a lot more detailed without the technical know how for something like . The sky is the limit when it comes to colors AND if it is for décor only (not being eaten), you are not limited by the type of paint. I personally like acrylics because they are affordable and very easy to work with even for beginners.

This is just scratching (lol) the surface when it comes to decorated eggs though. What about 3D art or paper machete? Could you use a pyrography tool on lower heat settings? New ideas and techniques are always popping up online and working on projects always gets me inspired to try new things. So, experiment and create something new. Let us know if you have any ideas or send them to us on our Instagram. We want to hear from you, and I am always looking for a new technique to try out myself!

Happy creating,

Taylor

This learning experience was so fun for me. It was easy to lose myself in a rabbit trail of information and compare different things from different places. I have always been interested in Astrology but have never made it past the superficial layer before. Taylor is much more knowledgeable in this particular area, so it was fun to finally delve a little deeper and then compare what I learned to my own birthdate as practice and compare my findings with how I see myself. 

So today, in what I am counting as my small act of bravery for the week, I am going to be transparent with you and use my own personality as a teaching tool to break down some of the things/ terms I learned and help provide some hands- on context to what Taylor shared in our last post.  

As a base line: I was born on Tuesday, January 17^th, 1995, at 2:13 AM in Phoenix, AZ.  

To get a more accurate in depth look at your Astrological relationship with the world you need: date, time, and general location (the day of the week is irrelevant, I just happen to know it was a Tuesday thanks to my mother’s dedicated ‘baby book record keeping’). 

Let’s go over my Sun Sign first:

This is the one most people know. The stereotypical ‘what’s your sign?’. As discussed previously, your sun sign represents the core of who you are. It showcases your strengths and understanding of the world. I am a Capricorn. We tend to be hard working, loyal, & pragmatic. We are the ‘keep your head down and just keep chugging’ group of people. It is an earth sign. This was interesting to me because on a nerdy surface level: I am a Hufflepuff (5 points to Gryffindor for J.K. Rowling’s intuitive sorting test). On a deeper level, I find this fascinating for several reasons: between the business team that is Taylor and I- I tend to be the more grounded of the two of us, not to say that I don’t have a deeply creative side, but Taylor is the visionary, I’m the auger. I have a strange ability to put the blinders on when things get stressful; I have a ‘deal with it now, melt down afterwards’ approach (and I do have my meltdowns- we’ll get to that). I take it as a strange point of pride that several of my best friends have told me that part of the reason, I’m so close with them or still in their lives is because ‘I just don’t go away’ or ‘you kept checking in even when I stopped answering everyone, and it made me realize you really cared’. I don’t mean that to sound braggy- because it’s not always a great thing. I am stubbornly loyal, and I accept that. Can that come off as pushy? I’m sure it probably can- but I am a persistent person if nothing else. 

Next step is our Lunar sign:

Your moon sign is the soul side of your identity, the inside of your sun sign, your subconscious- it makes up a lot of your emotional side. My moon sign is Cancer. This is as close to opposite from Capricorn as possible and makes an interesting pairing if not a sometimes difficult one.  Cancer is associated with strong empathy, being intuitive to others, a strong need for alone time and recharge time, & quality over quantity with friends. It is a water sign, and they frequently need to find a way to ground themselves. While Cancers are not known for being lazy, they are much moodier than Capricorns. A Cancer’s tendency towards strong emotions and a need to communicate with others through emotions can frequently catch the Capricorn side off guard. When I was reading about this particular relationship it caught me right in the solar plexus. Both Taylor and Thomas can vouch for the fact that if I do not get my ‘alone time’ or my ‘recharge time’- I turn into a mess. I get moody, emotionally distant, and drained. Little things start to irritate me, and I get overwhelmed easily; My stress level goes up, I begin having flare ups and inevitably get sick. I love doing things with others and being with people, I NEED that connection- but I have a limit and I know exactly what that limit is. The alone time balance is an absolute necessity for me, and it took a long time to learn that you can’t pour from an empty cup. I am emotionally intuitive and connect with the people and world around me emotionally before anything else, and that requires setting certain levels of boundaries or it can bowl me over. This can lead to bouts of depression and anxiety if I’m not careful. I have a small collection of very close and private friends that I hold near and dear to my heart and I protect them with badger-like loyal fierceness (see what I did there?). There are definite upsides to the pairing of Capricorn and Cancer, It’s not all ‘clash of the personalities’- I am not quite Golem. The water aspect of Cancer adds some fluidity and adaptability to my Capricorn side; and the Earth nature of a Capricorn helps me ground my emotions and gain perspective in moments of importance instead of letting them run away with me (I still have my meltdowns- but Capricorn says ‘lemon juice in your eyes? You don’t need your eyes to make lemonade, just keep juicing and rinse your eyeballs later.’). In some ways, my own internal conflict balances me out. 

Let’s move on to my Ascendant:

This is how the world sees you, your outward expression of yourself. The personality you present to the world.  For me, my ascendant is Scorpio. On one hand, this can be a difficult ascendant according to many; Scorpios can be abrupt, abrasive, and moody, and frequently struggle with negative, toxic, and emotionally obsessive states. On the other hand, Scorpio Ascendant can offer you magnetism and charisma as well as make you deeply perceptive. Let’s pick this one apart, shall we? I have always had best friends or worst enemies. I know I can be abrasive, and I suppose a lot of people probably consider my rapid-fire way of talking to be abrupt. Negative and emotionally obsessive states? Here’s the funny thing about that: I am probably one of the most upbeat, high energy, bubbly people I know, BUT the minute that ‘alone time’ tank dips too low- all of me dips. I go in waves. I always have. My brain gets in a ‘place’ and it frequently stays there for several weeks at a time until it works out a way to get out of it. I’m great at grounding other people (see Capricorn). I get in ‘I’m not enough’, ‘I can’t do this’, ‘the world is overwhelming and falling apart’ moods. I don’t know if I would call myself Magnetic or Charismatic necessarily, but my kindergarten teacher did tell my parents I was precocious (technically I don’t think it was meant a compliment). The fact of the matter is I tend to put myself out there, organize people, and take control of situations. I used to think it was a problem, especially as a little girl being labeled ‘bossy’ or ‘overbearing’ hurt. But the older I get and the more I learn about myself and other people the more I’m okay with it. I have had some luck in leadership and management roles, and I would like to think that the bit of leadership I have can be attributed to a combination of Charisma/ Magnetism, decisiveness, an emotionally perceptive understanding of others and a little bit of a mother hen caretaker habit.  

There is still so much more that I need a better understanding of and want to know more about because reflecting on what I already learned has led to some interesting insight and self-awareness. Things that you know about yourself but don’t always admit. Reading the explanations of things allowed me to pause and look at myself in a more pragmatic way. I had a few ‘oh my god, I DO that moments’ (some in excitement and some with a grimace). My next steps will be exploring my Mercury, Venus, and Mars and I hope you will join me for that.  

If you are interested in learning more but aren’t sure where to start, a fun exercise/ tool to help you find out your own is: Free Chart – Astrodienst 

From there you can go through the process of looking up and learning about the connotations behind your own Astrological relationships. Remember that this is a guide and intended to give you insight into your predispositions, but it does not dictate or limit who you are. If anything, this can be a tool to expose areas of your life that you may need to work on or stay on top of.  

All the best, Always, 

Mikaela