Who is a Cottage Witch?
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A cottage witch, sometimes called a hearth witch or kitchen witch, is a practitioner of a type of witchcraft focused on the home and hearth. This practice centers around everyday activities, using simple and natural elements to create magic. The life of a cottage witch is deeply intertwined with their home environment, and their practices are rooted in making everyday life more magical and meaningful.
Connection to Home and Hearth
A cottage witch's magic is centered on their home. They believe the home is a sacred space and that everyday tasks can be acts of magic. Cooking, cleaning, gardening, and decorating are all seen as opportunities to bring positive energy into the home. For a cottage witch, the kitchen is a particularly special place, often considered the heart of their magical practice. They use herbs and spices not only for their culinary benefits but also for their magical properties.
Use of Natural Elements
Cottage witches are very connected to nature. They often grow their own herbs and flowers, which they use in their spells and rituals. They may keep a small garden or even just a few potted plants on a windowsill. These plants are chosen for their magical properties as well as their beauty. For instance, lavender is used for its calming effects, both in the home and in magical practices. Cottage witches also use natural items like stones, shells, and feathers in their spells and as decorations to bring the energy of the outdoors inside.
Simple and Practical Magic
The magic practiced by cottage witches is usually very practical and straightforward. It doesn’t require fancy tools or elaborate rituals. Instead, it focuses on the intention behind the actions. For example, stirring a pot of soup with a specific intention can be a spell in itself. Cleaning the house with the goal of removing negative energy is another example of practical magic. Cottage witches often create their own magical tools and ingredients, such as homemade candles, herbal sachets, and infused oils.
Personal and Intuitive Practice
Cottage witchcraft is highly personal. Each witch develops their own practices and rituals that work best for them. There is no strict set of rules to follow. Instead, cottage witches rely on their intuition and personal experiences to guide their magic. They might keep a journal, sometimes called a Book of Shadows, where they record their spells, recipes, and experiences. This allows them to reflect on what works and what doesn’t, and to develop their practice over time.
Focus on Everyday Life
Cottage witches incorporate magic into their daily routines. They see the divine in everyday activities and believe that even the simplest actions can be magical. Cooking a meal, brewing a cup of tea, or tidying up a room are all opportunities to practice their craft. This focus on everyday life makes cottage witchcraft very accessible and practical. It’s about finding joy and magic in the mundane and making each day a little more special.
Seasonal and Lunar Cycles
Cottage witches are often attuned to the cycles of nature. They celebrate the changing seasons and the phases of the moon. These cycles are seen as times for different types of magic. For example, the full moon is a time for powerful spells and completing projects, while the new moon is a time for setting intentions and new beginnings. Seasonal changes are celebrated with rituals and decorations that reflect the natural world. For instance, during autumn, a cottage witch might decorate their home with pumpkins, leaves, and acorns to honor the season.
Respect for Tradition and Heritage
Many cottage witches have a deep respect for tradition and heritage. They might incorporate elements of their cultural background into their practice. This could include traditional recipes, folk remedies, and family rituals. These traditions help to ground their practice and connect them to their ancestors. However, cottage witchcraft is also very flexible and adaptable, allowing each witch to create a practice that is uniquely their own.
Community and Sharing
While cottage witchcraft is often a solitary practice, many cottage witches also enjoy sharing their knowledge and experiences with others. They might participate in online communities, attend local gatherings, or teach workshops. Sharing their practice helps to build a sense of community and allows them to learn from others. It also helps to preserve and pass on the knowledge and traditions of cottage witchcraft.
The attributes of a cottage witch include a deep connection to the home and hearth, the use of natural elements, practical and intuitive magic, and a focus on everyday life. They honor seasonal and lunar cycles, respect tradition and heritage, and often enjoy sharing their practice with others. Cottage witchcraft is a personal, adaptable, and deeply meaningful practice that brings magic into the everyday.
Do you resonate with the idea of a cottage witch?
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Lughnasadh - The First Harvest in the Wheel of the Year
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Lughnasadh, named after the Irish mythological figure Lugh, marks the first grain harvest and is celebrated on August 1st. The festival honors Lugh's foster mother, Tailtiu, who died from clearing land for agriculture. Traditionally, grains like wheat, barley, oats, and corn, harvested in the morning, were baked into bread by evening and shared with the community. This time of year symbolizes gratitude, abundance, and preparation for the coming seasons.
Symbols of Lughnasadh include sunflowers, sheaves of grain, and harvest tools such as scythes. The colors associated with this festival are bold shades of yellow, bright greens, and orange, reflecting the vibrancy of mid to late summer. Stones like citrine, peridot, carnelian, gold topaz, clear quartz, and amber are also linked to Lughnasadh.
Lughnasadh can be seen as a forerunner of modern agricultural fairs and festivals, with a focus on the abundance of the harvest season. To celebrate Lughnasadh today, many people bake bread and share it with others, honoring the traditional grain celebration and giving thanks for the abundance in their lives. If baking isn't possible, using store-bought bread is perfectly acceptable. Another way to observe this festival is by decorating an altar with Lughnasadh symbols, colors, and elements.
Spending time in meditation at the altar can help connect with one's inner spirit, reflect on current blessings, and set intentions for the future. The flexibility of Lughnasadh allows for spreading out the celebration throughout the month, adapting to individual schedules and preferences. This approach removes the pressure of having a single, specific celebration on August 1st.
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Lessons From The Garden
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They say that necessity is the mother of invention. It is also the mother of motivation at my house, currently. Several projects I’ve been putting off are now somewhat urgent. One of them is tending to my upper garden, which sits at the top a small hill behind my house.
At one time the space held a mix of vegetable gardens and perennials. There were peonies, lilacs, irises, rhubarb and even a small mistletoe plant. The previous owners had let the garden go to seed a few years before I took it over in 2013. Ever since I’ve just been trying to keep the area from being entirely consumed by bittersweet (aka my mortal enemy) and a mysterious groundcover.
For the first 5-6 years I lived here I vowed I would clean up the upper garden and do some serious landscaping to make it more accessible and enjoyable. But there never seemed be enough time. Weekends and evenings were spent at school events, sporting events or shuttling my kids hither and thither. And so I eventually gave up the ghost of a lovely little garden tucked away on the hill. Instead I focused on easier-to-maintain areas around my house.
This year though, I’m finally going to do some proper landscaping and get the space ready for planting. But before I can start adding in more flowers and vegetables, I have to prune, pull and remove all the excessive vines, weeds and trees. I likely won’t even begin planting anything new until next year. I started working on cutting back the garden this past weekend. As I was hacking away at giant bittersweet vines, I was kicking myself for not doing this years ago. Why had I let it get so wild? Why hadn’t I been more diligent about the upkeep? Cutting away all the overgrowth felt like I was giving someone a very short and very bad haircut. It was one of those it’s-going-to-get-worse-before-it-gets-better situations.
Even though I love the wild and unkept beauty of this space, I risk losing it all together if I don’t take serious action now. So while it pains me to cut everything down to the dirt and have to cut down several trees (which are leaning precipitously close to my house) I know that the end result will be a much healthier, and even more beautiful, corner of the world. Moving forward I want to start using a Garden Journal & Planner, similar to this one.
When I first started working on this space it was overwhelming and I wanted to quit right away. So in my head I marked off a small area to focus on. I just had to clear this one area, and I could be done for the day. That one area took me four hours to clean up, but I was so happy at the end of it. And much more motivated to continue the work. It was a good reminder that small actions can have big impact.
Do you have any lessons you’ve learned from your gardens or nature?
Some of Gardening Books You May Enjoy*
The Green Witch by Arin Murphy-Hiscock
A Green Witch’s Guide to Herbal Medicine by Sage Willowbrook
Growing Fruits & Vegetables for Dummies - This book was super helpful when I first started out gardening
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