Book Circle 2: Oils and Ointments

That’s a wrap on our second Book Circle! If you couldn’t make it, here’s a quick recap of what we covered on Thurs 7^th November 2024. Thank you to all 12 of you who came along to our meet up.

Following on from our first session, we continued working with Scott Cunningham’s Incense, Oils & Brews this time, focusing on Oils and Ointments.

Key Themes from the Session

It was an excellent round table discussion, and we heard how different folks incorporate oils into their witchcraft practice – many using oils for anointing purposes, items, candles for spell work and even using oil lamps for light during ritual.

The Role of Oils and Ointments in Modern Witchcraft

Oils in modern witchcraft practices are used to bless, anoint items and people, and to ritually mark a person or an object as sacred.

You cannot discuss ointments in a modern witchcraft perspective without touching lightly on flying ointment. Folks were very polite in approaching the topic given that witches are understandably careful in how they discuss their use of even non-toxic versions of these ointments.

Properties and Formulations

We spent a good chunk of the discussion talking about safe use of essential oils, safe blending ratios, and sensible and preferable ratios of wax to oil to use when making balms. Cunningham in all his wisdom, provides some basic guidelines which aren’t really finessed.

Once we finished the discussion part of the evening, we got to the practical element of the night which was three different activities:

1. Blending an oil – we made the Sabbat Oil from page 120
2. Decanting infused oil – we decanted my calendula oil which has been infusing since September
3. Made a basic balm – we made a basic balm from the book, a Love Ointment from page 129 with amendments – we left out cardamom. We use da sweet almond oil base and 25% beeswax.

We literally got our hands dirty and I delegated tasks to everyone to demonstrate how to do every step of the projects.

What’s Next?

We will meet in December for a social meet up and will continue the learning series in 2025. If you want to stay specifically updated about these and get first access, please leave your email address here

Copies of the slides and instructions for all practical exercises will be made available next week beginning 11^th Nov. Keep an eye on our socials for updates!