Massage bars should look, smell, and feel luxurious. Cocoa butter is beloved for its delicious natural chocolate scent. I also recommend shea butter or mango butter as other options, for they are also sumptuous.
• 3 ounces cocoa butter • 3 ounces beeswax • 3 ounces almond oil • 1 teaspoon of lavender essential oil • Soap bar molds (available at any craft store)
Slowly heat the beeswax, almond oil, and cocoa butter in a double boiler over low heat until just melted. Remove from heat. Add essential oil when mixture has cooled slightly. Pour into soap molds and cool until hardened, approximately two hours. Place in the freezer for a few minutes just before popping the bars out of the molds. To use, rub massage bar onto the skin—the warmth of the skin immediately melts the bar. Package your handmade massage bars in a pretty basket and give as a thoughtful gift.
You can make simple syrup, a base for any liqueur, in five short minutes by boiling a cup of sugar in a half cup of water. The method above can be used to create distinctive after-dinner drinks and digestives from angelica, anise, bergamot, hyssop, all mints, fennel and, perhaps the most special of all, violets. To your health!
Nuts are some of the best food we humans can eat; they are packed with positive proteins and beneficial oils and are very tasty. This nearly effortless nut roastie is a great snack for movie night at home or party time anywhere and makes a savory appetizer for special meals. Here is what you need:
10 ounces mixed nuts
8 ounces of day-old bread
1 medium-sized white onion, chopped
1 1⁄2 cups veggie stock
Soy or tamari sauce
2 ounces unsalted butter
1 teaspoon dried sage
Preheat your oven to 350°F and sauté the onion in the butter until softened. Mix the nuts together with the bread in a food processor or stir vigorously until blended well, then transfer to a large bowl. Heat the stock to boiling and pour into the mixture in the bowl. Stir in the onions. Season as you see fit with salt, pepper, and sage. Pour in a tablespoon of the soy or tamari sauces to add zing to your roast and give one last stir. Spoon the roastie mix into a greased baking dish and bake for a half hour. Take note as your kitchen fills with a fantastic aroma. Heating the nuts brings out more of their natural oils and intensifies the flavor. Like herbs and flowers, nuts have magical properties which are mainly to increase love as well as feelings of conviviality and peace, thus the name of this dish. When you serve this roastie, you are quite literally “sharing the love.”
Why does every day seem like it is a week long nowadays? Unplugging from cable news and constant social media feeds will help, as will this time-tested aromatherapy healing potion. This remedy is an excellent way to recharge and refresh after a hectic week, and it is most potent when made right after the sun sets, by the light of the moon.
In a small ceramic or glass bowl, gently mix together the following essential oils with a small amount of a base carrier oil:
Lemon Balm also goes by the equally lovely Latinate Melissa. From Greco Roman times, this relative of the mint family has been held to be a significant medicinal. You can grow lemon balm with ease from seed packets in almost any kind of soil, but it likes shade in the afternoon to prevent wilting. This is one of the happy plants that will “volunteer” and spread in your garden, and it can be used in your home to bring love to you and to heal after a breakup or divorce as well. It can also be employed as an aphrodisiac. Infusions and teas made from lemon balm make good on the property that its name implies, as it can soothe the heart and any lingering upset, blue moods, and aches and pains from trauma both physical and emotional. I suggest we all grow as much as possible and let some go to seed for those new plants that will pop up in unexpected places in your herb garden. An herbalist never complains about a plentitude of balm; anyone who makes much use of lemon balm in brews and cookery will enjoy an abundance of love.
Although I am most fond of “vamber,” my vanilla and amber combination, I have recently moved into a sandalwood phase and am delighting in its powers.
In a glass bowl, stir together six teaspoons of powdered sandalwood and two cups of neutral oil, such as sesame or almond. Heat gently over a flame, taking care not to bring the mixture to boiling point. After cooling, place it in a colored-glass jar and seal securely.
To help heal yourself or a brokenhearted friend, add five drops of each of the following essential oils to a scentless base oil or almond oil:
Wisteria
Clove
Jojoba
Neroli
Shake and add a few small rose quartz crystals into the vial. Offer to give your heartbroken friend a neck and head rub. Dab the oil on his or her temples, neck, and shoulders, and gently rub in circular motions.
Anthony Gresham
It's taken me a while to finish writing this, but I accept your challenge to write a new myth of my own. Here goes:Narfi & NariI write of Narfi and N...
Thesseli
You should post on Substack too, where you won't have to worry about being deplatformed or kicked off the site for your views. (Also, I've archived th...
