This is a long time practice in my family, my grandmother was a Curandera (healer) in Mexico. Lemons are thought of as trapping negative energy, and purifying the air/area. You can do this many ways, the lemon should be cut across diagonally and horizontally, as you slice the skin place your intentions for your lemon, to draw out negativity. Use 1-3 lemons, place them on your bed stand to absorb negative energies overnight from you and your dreams. If using them as protection: place your bowl of cut lemons under your bed. For additional protection place salt around them, blessing the salt as you pour them. Feel free to personalize the salt bowl for your needs - the bowl shown has eucalyptus and bay leaves added. I leave my lemon until it feels done. Some instruct one lemon per night, or until the lemon turns brown. Do not touch the lemon, put the whole bowl into the earth or in a bag and dispose off your property.
🥖The first day of August is celebrated as Lammas, which is the modern translation of the Old English, phrase blaf-maesse, which means loaf mass. As the grain is harvested, bread is baked and blessed, and there’s a sense that home and hospitality is of crucial importance. Grain has become associated with the concept of life, death, and rebirth, and bread itself represents the harvested grain being baked so it can feed our families. Bread ties in perfectly with magic for good health and abundance.
🥖 Prepare your bread according to the recipe. Before you place it in the oven, dip the brush in the melted butter and paint the word ABUNDANCE along the top of the loaf. Bake as directed and allow your bread to cool. As you slice it up , say “ABUNDANCE FOR YOU, AND ABUNDANCE FOR ME. ABUNDANCE TIMES TWO, ABUNDANCE TIMES THREE.SLICE IT UP AND SHARE IT AROUND, BLESSINGS FOR EVERYONE SHALL BE FOUND”.
🥖 Serve it with your dinner that night, and know that abundance and blessings are heading toward your family.
1. The most important clues may be in the background!
In the Rider Waite Smith deck, many cards show a figure with a number of significant items behind his or her back. What happens behind one’s back is, for oneself, something unseen, shadowy, something to which one has no conscious access. This could point to the idea that the figure in the foreground is unaware of the nature or scope of their issues. You can’t grasp what you cannot see, and that can reveal a lot about the nature of the card’s meaning.
2. The color of the sky reveals a lot!
Again referencing the Rider Waite Smith deck, the color of the sky on a given card often leads to a simple but important clue for its interpretation.
3. Pay close attention to proportions!
In the image of the Four of Wands, the figures are depicted much smaller than is the case in other images; they fall short. Or perhaps they are of normal height and are painted so small in order to emphasize the comparatively huge size of the wands. This sort of thing can be found in many other cards.
4. Court cards represent developed personalities or facets of oneself!
The Queen: impulsive, an initiator, an investigator (water type)
The King: thorough, intensive, consolidating (fire type)
The Knight: magnifying, expanding, a drawer of consequences (air type)
The Page: makes something tangible out of or with the element in question (earth type)
4. Pay attention to numbers!
Numerology can play a big role in your interpretations of the cards, especially in the Minor Arcana:
Ones (Aces): Something new with vast potential is indicated when you have many aces in your readings. They are pure energy without form - and it depends on you to shape it and bring the opportunities that they represent into fruition. Because they are raw, they are also unstable, and can very quickly overwhelm if not taking care.
Twos: Coming together in pairs is the theme of the twos, and all the complexities that this union represents. We leave the individuality of the ones, and the twos are a taste of union.
Threes: Group dynamics rule the threes in the tarot, and they depict different outcomes that can occur when a group comes together - whether they are groups of individuals, or groups of ideas. Because it is also symbolically thought of as completion (the first polygon, the holy trinity, etc) it also indicates an initial completion of a first phase of some sort.
Fours: The fours usually indicate that some foundation has been created and is ready to grow and evolve. To grow and evolve is the key here, because though the foundation is created, there is some disappointment indicated sometimes because things may not have progressed entirely as hoped for - thus, the fours are also the universe’s way of pushing us to grow and move forward.
Fives: Change, fluctuations and conflict are represented by the fives. After the fours, the fives are amplifications of that same energy. When that energy explodes, the fives ask us to look within ourselves for a deeper reason of why to progress. To move forward and beyond these instabilities, we have to push forward.
Sixes: While the fives represent conflict, the sixes represent the movement away from that conflict into a solution, whether they are internal or external, whether that means reconciliation or letting go. They are the cards of overcoming suffering, light after the dark.
Sevens: When seeing many sevens in a reading it usually indicates that it is a time to step back and introspect. The sevens ask us to assess, and reevaluate whether the path that you are taking is what is best for you. Sometimes this is a lonely pursuit, but this period is needed to go forward with your authentic desires.
Eights: A completion of a second phase is indicated with the eights, and usually corresponds to some sort of achievement, whether in the worldly sense, or in an emotional sense. Growth either way is indicated here, and sometimes it can take place in a form where we least expected it.
Nines: Nearing completion is indicated by the nines, and this can take the form of entering a plateau of some sort. What looks like the finish line, may actually be just a transitory stage. While the feeling of completion is here, it is usually just a pause before the final part of the cycle comes.
Tens: In the tens, we see the actual completion of the cycle, that something has come to a full circle - it indicates that from this point forward, we can move towards a new beginning.
✨🔮✨
Sources: Biddytarot, The Ultimate Guide to the Rider Waite Tarot by Johannes Fiebig and Evelin Burger, Understanding Tarot by Liz Dean
It’s best if you can pick all of the herbs fresh. I’m lucky enough to live in an area where just a short walk around my neighborhood provided me with all of the herbs I needed, fresh & wild.
Creation
Combine the herbs in a glass jar (I found this one at Dollar Tree) then fill the jar to the top with the apple cider vinegar. Let the potion sit in the refrigerator for 2 weeks. Keep refrigerated after each use.
Instructions
Once ready, take a large bowl (I recommend repurposing a plastic container or using something that won’t shatter if you accidentally drop it because you’ll be taking it in the shower with you. I’m a dumbass so I just use a glass bowl, but don’t be like me)
Pour roughly 1 tsp for every 6 inches of hair that you have into the bowl. Fill the rest with shower water.
Wash your hair as usual.
Towel dry your hair (hack: hang a towel over the shower door or rod so you dont actually have to get out of the shower to do this. Just squeeze the excess water out of your hair)
Dip the ends of your hair into the potion and let sit for at least 30 seconds. Carefully pour the rest of the water over the top of your hair. Be careful not to get it in your eyes. It fucking hurts.
You can rinse your hair out with water, or leave it at that and you’re finished!
Your hair will smell like vinegar while it’s wet, but once dry the smell goes away :)
Final question & Goodbye (ask if there’s anything else you should know before leaving, thank and salute fire/salamanders)
During the observation phase, watch for:
Length of the flame 1-2 min to know WHEN-the timing = PAST
Shape of the flame 2-3 min to know WHAT-the actual matter = PRESENT
Direction & behavior of the flame 3-4 min to know HOW-the true nature of it = hints at the FUTURE (see where the fire is pointing to know what type of matter it is; concentrate on the opposite direction telling you how to counteract to solve or banish whatever it might be; it also indicates what elemental energy is strongly supporting/protecting you in taking action as well as in related spellwork)
Presence/Absence of Smoke 2-3 min to understand the SOURCE of your awareness
*Keep a compass handy!
Salamanders/fire will try to communicate with you as soon as you light the fire/candle so pay attention from the very beginning. Fire energy is impulsive, blunt, active, carefree and wild. This type of divination detects negativity like WOW because it easily speaks the brutally honest truth regardless of how you feel or what’s happening. It brings up issues that we refuse to deal with. Again, it’s pure blunt energy. Because of its wild nature, fire will also charge us with optimism and explosive determination to overcome problems and bad news: typically after pyromancy we feel motivated and “ready to go”.
Length
Long-extra long: something has been bothering you for a very long time now (trust your intuition, probably for years) which you never actively faced; you’ve been quiet for too long; unsolved problems from the past are challenging your patience; relevant stuff that had to be cleared much earlier
Medium: Something that has been lurking in the back of your mind for 1-3 months, a plan or an idea that could change/shake your life but is not currently a priority to you; it might be something you heard from another person or a vague thought
Short: something intense that happened within the last couple days, a very recent thing is bothering you and has almost caught you by surprise; unexpected news from day to day, a new sudden event that physically or emotionally shook you
Shape
Double: Two things that were generated consequentially or have a common link, two entities/people united by a common theme
Super-thin line: Something you felt or suspected but never had proof of evidence about, a subtle suspicion, a doubt, an insinuation; a sneaky or secretive individual
Regular: Something/someone that you accept and is part of your routine, your own mindset, something very close and not disturbing; a solid milestone in your daily life
Round: One thing in particular that constantly “fills you up”, makes you feel complete, full, exploding or either extremely delighted; a person who represses/suppresses you, someone ghosting you on purpose just to humble you or to make you feel lesser
Behavior
Steady: things are happening in the background, far from the “public eye” and without you even realizing; you - and people around you- are calm, clueless, peaceful and the surroundings seem safe; good vibes are in the air but definitely keep your eyes open and intuition awake
Shaky, wiggly: things are visibly happening before your eyes, making you confused, uneasy or giving you mood swings; anxiety; you are able to feel bad vibes around you: take control of the situation and protect yourself
Weak, petite & almost extinguished: matter/person X is now annihilating you before the eyes of everybody, but still no one defends you; seek help in others, protect yourself and take action to win this ripe, suffered battle
(+ ALL YOUR PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE about the elements and how they can be interpreted, what meanings they have in our lives and their specific correspondences)
Smoke
Absence:you are the source of awareness: your body and soul have sent you signals about matter X and you had an inner awakening which led you to this reading
Presence: someone else enlightened you with their words and made you fully aware of matter X; something popped up as an obvious proof that you weren’t expecting to find: this has awakened your inquisitive mind and led it to this reading.
Hopefully you’ll get inspired by this post and learn something useful to spice up your divination practice:) I thank you so much for reading, xox msmoonfire
