“Oh I love roses! I try growing them myself, but they never get very far.”
“Would you like to know the secret to healthy rose bushes,” I asked, knowing that she would not like the answer.
“Do tell!”
Grin. “Blood.”
The customer paused, waiting for me to say that I was kidding. But I wasn’t so it never came. She became nervous.
And before I could explain that blood meal is a common soil fixer and fertilizer, she put her hands up, spun around and said-
“Bye.”
You want to know the secrets to a beautiful garden? You better be prepared for some weird shit.
Well someone felt like being the ominous witch in the small, mysterious shop today.
.
…also, tomatoes like blood too.
My interest in plants extends beyond ‘oh look a pretty flower’ and straight into ‘plants are fucking metal.’
Evidently, you’re supposed to plant garlic in the same places as your roses because the garlic will repel a rose-specific aphid.
So what I’m saying is that between the romantic symbolism of the rose, the bloodmeal in the soil, and the fresh garlic all over the place-
You could really set yourself up for an encounter with some VERY pissed vampires.
Roses really love banana skins, too. Just… stick one in there before you plant a rose bush or spronkle around one that’s already in the ground. They’ll adore you.
Mmm… blood banana.
I made tiny ass Home Depot Petunias blossom like magic that they’re nearly overtaking the trellises.
How did I accomplish this?
Once a week I bury a small amount of leftover meat in the soil.
My morning glories loved the crap out of the charred chicken bones I gave them. They’re already an enthusiastic plant, but the blooms I had this year were extraordinary.
That’s cool as heck. Is this all plants, or just specific plants? Inquiring witches want to know!
See, here we’re getting into soil chemistry, which is an entire doctorate of study and I only know a little bit above the average person.
But the primary reason why bloodmeal is used for rose cultivation is because roses grow best in nitrogen-rich soil. So plants that need a lot of nitrogen in their soil would benefit from blood meal. Others, who do not benefit from high nitrogen, would not fair well. So I would not use it on the entire garden.
Bones/bone meal are used to add phosphorus to the soil, which is why its used as a fertilizer. Generally, most plants benefit from it, but that’s not guaranteed. Crushed eggshells provide the same treatment, with the added bonus of deterring ants.
Coffee grounds will make the soil more acidic.
Ashes of hardwood trees will fix soil if it’s been overwatered. I think it serves as another nitrogen fixer, but don’t quote me on that.
I’d have to take a look in one of my books before I say anything else, but there’s tons of materials that double both as soil fixers and offerings.
As a green witch and avid Gardener and plant lover I love all of this so much. All this shit is going in my grimoire.
“you’re an art model does that mean you’re NAKED?” “yeah” “whoa….those lucky artists ;)”
…buddy.
idk who started the idea that life drawing classes have anything sexy going on like. there’s at least ten people in the room and we’re all tired and covered in charcoal.
the dude in front who’s staring at my boobs has been trying to get the shading right for 10 minutes. he’s almost out of paint. he is crying.
The ice burg being frozen solid because there are NEVER ENOUGH SPACE HEATERS.
I was an artist’s model in uni since it paid better than any other student work position. Did a life drawing class one semester, despite it being an unheated old building in the winter evenings, because the instructor was a decent fellow who always had extra space heaters. So there I am one evening, exhausted from my team’s afternoon practice, but I’m in a comfortable position on a padded stool, ready to hold the position for like fifteen minutes. Space heaters all around me, spotlights on me to get shadows in interesting places.
Beyond the red glow of the heaters and the hot-white of the spotlights, the massive drafty room is dark and quiet, broken only by the instructor’s whispers and the scratch of charcoal on paper. Me, I’m just dozing, ‘cause my ancient dorm was heated with creaky old steampipes that never really got warm, and with the new extra-powered space heater alongside the others, that night was the warmest I’d been in a month. I dozed, basking in the glorious warmth.
And then I fell asleep.
And then I fell off the stool.
I woke up rather abruptly on the cold wooden platform, and looked up to see an entire ring of terrified and worried faces around me. Everyone had their hands up, ready to help me up, except no one had touched me. Naked chick laid out face-down on the floor, and all the men and women were suddenly acutely aware they couldn’t just grab a half-asleep dazed naked chick.
Fortunately someone had the bright idea to tear the sheet down from the backdrop, lay it over me as a wrap, and then everyone was quick to help me up.
After that, the instructor and students got used to taking turns talking to me, just to make sure I wasn’t dozing off. Which was weird, at first, because I’d done two semesters just being a silent prop, and now I was interacting. It gave the class a vibe completely unlike any other I’d modeled for, and it ended up one of my favorite modeling experiences.
postscript: months later, walking on campus with someone who’d eventually become my spouse, we passed some guys on the main path. One of them stopped, peered at me, and then said hello, excitedly, saying, “sorry, I didn’t recognize you, I’ve never seen you with your clothes on!”
This is honestly so delightful and accurate
The only situation where saying “I’ve never seen you with your clothes on” is a completely normal thing to say.
Ok, story time. Once when I was in, I think, my third year at college I was walking between classes with a couple friends. So we’re chatting, normal day stuff going on… and then a completely naked dude runs by holding a banner (I can’t remember what the banner was for tbh). I keep going with the conversation like nothing happened for a couple seconds before I notice that my friends have gone totally silent and are staring at me.
They’re like “You did just see a naked dude run by, right?” “Wait, he was naked?” “HOW COULD YOU NOT NOTICE HE WAS NAKED?!” “Um… I’m an art major?” “What does your major have to do with it?” “Guys, I’m taking 5 classes, 3 of them involve staring at naked people for the majority of the class. I’m kinda desensitized by now.”
This is one of the reasons why I get really pissed off at people who try to argue that all nudity is sexual. Like no it fucking isn’t, you’re objectively incorrect, and I have 5 god damn years of art classes to prove it.
Dried thyme sprinkled on doorsteps and windowsills will invite in faeries
Wearing thyme may enable you to see faeries
Seven grains of wheat laid on a four leaf clover may enable you to see faeries
Where oak, ash and thorn grow, faeries can be easily seen
Lilac flowers will draw sprites, and repel those that are ill-willed
Eating a primrose flower is said to give you faerie sight
Collecting 5 primroses and tapping them on a faerie rock may open a portal to fairyland
Place primroses on your door to receive a faerie blessing
Carrying a sprig of lavender may help you see faeries
Fresh flowers bring faeries. Keep house plants in your living space to invite in the faeries of those flowers.
Faeries are attracted to those with childlike hearts and minds
Carry with you a sprig of any flower or herb who’s faerie you wish to be close to
Place the sprig under your pillow to receive a dream from that faery
Bringing an acorn into your house will strengthen your connection to the faerie realm
Meditating on the appearance of the marigold flower may enhance your faerie sight
Grow a garden with flowers associated with the fae
Add faerie or gnome statutes to your garden; they find this amusing
Have a specific space in your home (a shelf, windowsill, table, etc) for the faeries to “live in”, and a spot to leave gifts for them (mine is in the garden)
Let a portion of your garden grow wild
Wind chimes hung in a window attract sprites
Faeries love music and dancing. Dance in nature with them, or sing / play a song for them
Create art for them, and draw the faeries you meet.
An often used method of seeing faeries is letting your eyes go out of focus and pay attention to the corners of your vision.
Crushed clover rubbed on eyelids may give one faerie sight
Give back to the earth, for what you take. Pick up trash you find in nature, try to use less plastics, don’t waste food, compost your fruits/vegatables/herbs for rich soil.
The best times to see faeries are dawn, dusk and midnight (the in-between times)
Hang glass, crystals, and beads in your window for the sun to shine through; faeries like glittery & sparkly things.
Wearing a crown of elder twigs on may eve will enable you to see faeries
Go out and just sit in nature, simply enjoying it. You can also practice sensing sprites
While it is dangerous to enter a faerie ring, running around it exactly nine times clockwise under a full moon will allow you to see and hear the faeries dancing inside it (note though, the faeries may take offense if this done on Beltane or Samhain)
Heather is said to open portals to fairyland
Looking through a stone with a natural hole, a hagstone, is said to allow one faerie sight
Add a sigil on your door or window meaning “good faeries welcome”
Leave out a small saucer of milk for any household faeries
Try sitting in your garden in the early morning, late afternoon, evening, night
Look up artists who specialise in faeries and observe their different interpretations of the fae (Brian Froud, Amy Brown, Sulamith Wülfing, Cicely Mary Baker, Howard David Johnson, Nadia Strelkina, etc)
Read real life accounts of people’s encounters with faeries
Read traditional fairie lore
Believe. Faeries most likely won’t interact or make themselves known to closed minds
The 7th house is not welcoming of Pluto. Aphrodite is dressed in black on a wedding day that she never dreamed of, accepting the ring from a haunted pandora’s box. The individual may have a sweet or non imposing social conduct while covertly operating with the observation of a psychic detective. She may have significant trust issues, a tendency to assume there is always an underlying motive in people’s actions, or weak boundaries that make her too trusting. This can stem from experiencing one of the parents during childhood compulsively lie, manipulate her, not take parenting her seriously, and or repeatedly devalue her, the other parent, or others. Because the nature of Pluto is hidden, it’s possible that her family appeared to be cordial but different faces were worn in front of her behind closed doors. She may have learned it essential to secure her trust and only half believe in anything, and sadly, also that love is another promise that can be broken. Relationships are longings that stir deep in the soul. It means abandonment and exile can cause immense suffering, she will attach onto anything – she will make friends with devils and invisible projections. Love is a reunion with twin flames and bonds ignited centuries ago. Anything less than consuming, devouring, and comfortable on some sort of inexplicable vibratory level is perished along with part of herself. Relationships can seem controlled by fate, and it’s almost like every force in the universe conspired so that these two would find each other, and she soon realises that this person is present inside almost every thought, her physical body hungers for its energy, she may have dreams or visions of the person, and nothing else seems to matter so long they are together. For some people, these thoughts and longings can feel obsessive, and the relationship may involve a great risk or leap into the unknown. But the lover is something she would do absolutely anything for, make sacrifices, grow in the ways that enhance the relationship, and evolve into the best version for herself.
ImagineCreateDevour 