Moon Tea #2: Self-love potions for daily rituals
Whatever you wanna call it - seasonal depression, Aquarius season, winter blues - we all feel it during these frosty days. In these difficult times, it’s either too hard or hard enough to find the strength to take proper care of ourselves. We may find ourselves floating between the two, feeling motivated and depressed at the same time, moods going up and down with little control and a whole lot of resistance.
No matter who you are and what you believe in, the practice of self-care is important for us to stay connected to ourselves and fill our proverbial cup. You gotta rest to do your best, and when the surrounding conditions make it hard, you may need some tools to help you cope. In this article, the cup is far from proverbial and we are about to reveal what you can fill it up with to feel loved and replenished. And what better time for such activity than the season of the water-bearer?
Self-love potions are not my area of expertise but recently I encountered a witch in Bruxelles who shared these with me when I was a wreck. I felt an intense need for tenderness and pampering, but I also felt too depressed to let anyone help me with it. The witch knew what was up though and just like everyone else struggled with similar vibes. When I walked into her room to chat, she was holding a martini glass with a hot pink liquid and a cinnamon stick floating in there like a couple of olives on a toothpick in a martini. I was very intrigued and instantly asked about it. “It’s a self-love potion”, she said casually and my jaw just dropped from the sheer cuntiness of the statement. “Pomegranate juice for health, rose water for beauty, honey for abundance, and cinnamon for good luck”, she explained. Never had anyone convinced me to have a mocktail more effectively. I was totally sold before I took a sip, but after I tried it I rolled my eyes from pleasure, and I just knew I was gonna write this article.
My stay in Bruxelles involved a sleepover and as we were smoking the morning j, she offered me yet another potion. This one involved coffee made in a moka pot, brewed with cinnamon and cocoa powder. “Cocoa powder for love and cinnamon for good luck!”.
After my trip, I thought a long time about these, their purpose. Not everybody understands that witchcraft is an individual, subjective practice aimed to help you channel your own energy, tap into your own personal power, and make this energy flow in a rhythm that suits you. What I mean by that is that magic is just a way to help things go smoother - not make them disappear or appear. It’s really about finding the strength from within and being present, making the present moment count as you focus your attention on something simple.
This ritualizing of everyday activities is one of the most beautiful aspects of spiritual and esoteric practice, as it focuses on activities we would have done anyway but perhaps with less purpose, mindfulness, and enthusiasm. Let me give you a tangible example using our potions. You know you’ve been drinking too much, avoiding your responsibilities, procrastinating doing anything that you know is good for you. You know it’s because you’ve been depressed, but that knowledge doesn’t help you to feel more compassion for yourself, nor does it motivate you to do something about it. You’re slipping, but every time you get scared that you’re gonna go too far in neglecting your daily tasks you feel like you’re doing a chore and you’re totally disconnected from why you’re doing all this in the first place. You feel like you’re doing it for someone else, like you’re being forced into doing these activities.
Making a self-care potion in these moments can be a ritual that helps you get out of such a gutter. And it’s not necessarily because of the inherently magical qualities of the ingredients but rather about setting a specific intention to an action and performing it as you stay preset with the purpose of said action and intention. Let's say you’re in a downward spiral like I just described above. Instead of binging Below Deck or getting trashed in a bar with some friends, you’re taking an evening or an afternoon for yourself. Maybe you’re not looking forward to it and you fear that all the fears and anxiety you experience might only get worse. As much as it may resurface, just know that it’s better to surrender to it than resist it forever. But you’re here, you decided to have this moment, you’re going back home with your ingredients.
The whole point is to make it nice and cozy. You want to take a few deep breaths, and stretch a little. Just feel yourself in your body, feel the breath passing through it, in and out. If you’d like, you can close your eyes as you breathe, sit down, and just give yourself a moment to feel this silence and peace (that we get to experience so little in our daily lives). When you’re here, drop your shoulders, elongate your neck, and make sure when you breathe out your belly is out, and when you breathe in it flattens. Take a moment to ask yourself in your head: what do I need right now? Don’t answer straight away trying to force a response, but rather let it come subconsciously. Whatever you hear first is usually the thing you need the most, so if you hear “love”, “warmth” or “peace”, just go with it, but feel free to stay here as long as you’d like and take as many words coming to you as you wish to set your intention. Sometimes these may come to you without you trying and maybe it’s been a week or two that the word “recharge” may pop to your head. If you feel like you already know what your intention is, you can skip this step but if you feel like it you can always do it anyway - there are no rules.
Once you have your words and you know what you need, you can formulate your intention. For example: “I am at peace and I feel loved”. You put it together depending on the words you chose, it’s your magical spell of wellness. You keep this in mind as you mix your ingredients for the self-love potion of your choice, and you perform each action very mindfully: pouring the liquids, mixing the ingredients, adding garnish - whatever you do, you wanna be present with each step of the ritual.
When it’s ready, you can say your intention out loud, either when you’re done preparing it or right before drinking it (or both, again - no rules). You can have a quiet moment with it, just looking around your surroundings and drinking it in silence, making this moment yours, making it count, as you focus on your breath and clear your mind. You could also read a book, lay on the ground with a bunch of pillows, make yourself comfortable and do something you really enjoy as you consume your potion. Whether it’s a more active or more passive moment, whether you’re doing something or you’re exercising stillness - it’s up to you. The point isn’t to force you into something because it’s inherently good for you but for you to play around with these notions so it works for you. You can make a bigger batch and sip on it throughout the day, any day, or maybe a designated day for rest, Sunday or any day of the week that you deem good for such a thing. You just wanna use these moments to ground yourself and make sure you feel loved by yourself and to give something to yourself that no one else can.
Obviously, these do not work as anti-depressants and none of what I wrote here is to suggest you should quit your therapy to drink coffee with cinnamon and pomegranate juice. But I hope this practice can help you find your groove again, motivate you to take good care of yourself and prioritise it, and if anything I hope it makes you call your therapist back rather than avoid them. My point is that these rituals are supposed to bring you closer to yourself and what is good for you (according to you). Sometimes it’s about trying new meds, sometimes it’s about calling back your mother, sometimes it’s about giving yourself a few days of solitude to gather your thoughts. But whatever it is you’re going through right now, just know it gets better, and sometimes surrendering resistance can lead us to new, wonderful things even though it feels scary.
I wish you lovely rituals and I hope this winter season is treating you well. As Full Moon in Leo shines upon us, it really is a great time to celebrate our value, self-worth, and practice it tangibly through self-care as an expression of self-love. You’re worth it, and you deserve to feel good. Don’t be afraid to be silly - as long as it helps you release shame and feel more like yourself. We love you and we wish you a magical time <3
Extra tip from the witch: Feel free to play around with ingredients, replacing the juice with another one, or adding whatever you feel like. Here are some recipes to get you started:
Afternoon Delight
Smaczna Kawusia
Golden Child
Healthy Queen
Bitchcraft
- Pomegranate Juice
- Honey
- Rose Water
- Cinnamon Cane
Smaczna Kawusia
- Coffee
- Cinnamon
- Cocoa Powder
Golden Child
- Turmeric
- Milk (of choice)
- Honey
Healthy Queen
- Hot Water
- Cinnamon
- Lemon
- Ginger
- Honey
Bitchcraft
- Blueberry juice
- Violet syrup
- Rose petals
Stay blessed ︎,
SPIRAL
Illustration by Katia