By the light of a candle's flame, you're lying in a tub of herb-scented water, preparing yourself for magic. Incense smoke drifts on the airs as your form a perfect mental image of your magical goal. Steam rises, laden with the fragrance and energies of flowers, seeds, roots and leaves. Then, nearing the end of your bath, you reach for the soap - it's sickly sweet, artificially perfumed. Your concentration is destroyed, pulling your attention from your ritual preparations.
Has this happened to you? Although soaping isn't necessary in magical baths, a ritually correct soap can be a boost to any spell's effectiveness. Even if you don't bathe before ritual, it is wise to wash your hands. Even such a minor purification ritual can trigger the state of ritual consciousness. Therefore, spell soaps would be ideal for such uses.
Where can we obtain them? Don't try the supermarket. Make them at home. Not many people know how to do this today, but it's a lot of fun.
Most commercial soaps are formulated with caustic chemicals. They can be quite irritating to the skin, and are usually obnoxiously perfumed. Ritual soaps (of varying quality) are occasionally available at occult stores, but why not try making your own? Don't worry - you won't have to get a fire crackling under your cauldron out in the countryside to do this. And unless you want to upset your neighbors with nasty smells and risk burning your hands with lye, it's best to start out with pure, natural Castile soaps. These can be purchased at most drugstores and markets. Oils or herb brews are then added to the soap. The magic is in the scent and in your empowerment of the soaps.
Pure Castile soap is usually made of coconut oil. Kirk's a coconut Castile made in the Philippines, is ideal. Castile soap (named after Castile, Spain) is also made from olive oil.
Any Castile soap can be drying to the skin. If you have problems in this area, try adding one to two teaspoons apricot, almond or coconut oil to the water prior to mixing (see the below recipes), reducing the amount of water accordingly.
There are two types of ritual soaps: sphere and liquid. Here are complete directions for creating both forms.
Using a very sharp, thick-blade knife, cut a four-ounce bar of Castile soap into very small pieces no longer than 1/4-inch square - the smaller (so long as they're cubes) the better. Place these in a heat- proof nonmetallic container.
Heat slightly less than 1/3 cup water until nearly boiling. Pour the still-hot water over the cup-up soap. Let is sit until the water has cooled sufficiently to allow you to handle it. Mix the soap and water with your hands. This will moisten the soap chips, but they shouldn't be floating on the surface of the water. If they are, add more soap.
Let the soap and water sit for about nine minutes until mushy. If the soap cubes are still hard, set the bowl in a pan of water and reheat it gently until the soap is soft.
While the soap is melting, mix together the oils and empower them with your magical need. Then add 20-50 drops of the combined oils to the soup/water mixture. Very warm water evaporates the oils, so wait until the water has cooled. Mix them in thoroughly. The scent should be strong; if not, add more oils.
The quality and strength of the oils you use determines the quantity needed to overpower the natural, rather antiseptic scent of genuine Castile soap. Just add them until you can smell the oils.
Divide the scented soap mass into three or four parts. Form these into sphere with your hands. Place each on a nine-inch-square piece of cotton cheesecloth. Pull the ends tightly around the sphere, gather them at the top and twist together. The cloth should be tightly wrapped around the soap sphere. Tie the ends closed with strong string. Repeat with each sphere.
Hang the soap spheres in a warm place for three days, or until the soap is completely hard. When the spheres won't give to finger pressure, remove the cloth wraps. The soaps are ready to be used in ritual baths. Or, they can be wrapped in clean cheesecloth, labeled, and given as gifts to friends who would appreciate them.
Liquid soaps are a new trend today, thanks to aggressive advertising by major manufacturers. These soaps, however, are actually detergents, and aren't the best substances to put onto your hands.
While ad agencies trumpet liquid soaps as if they were brand-new, the idea is actually as old as soap. American Indians agitated yucca and other suds-producing plants in water to create cleansing solutions. Ancient Hawaiians used the flowers of a wild ginger plant for the same purpose. Many saponin (soap-producing) plants grow throughout the world and were often the only source of soap for various people.
But we'll use Castile as the basis of liquid ritual soaps. Here's the method:
Grate Castile soap into a large bowl. Pack this into a measuring cup until you have exactly one cup. Remember to pack that soap!
Heat three cups water until almost boiling. Add the soap chips to the water. Turn off the heat and whip with a wooden or (if you have nothing else) metal wish until the soap is completely melted.
Let sit until cool, then add 50-60 drops of the mixed, empowered oils. Once again, the exact amounts vary. You'll know it's time to stop adding oils when the soap is heavily scented.
Using a funnel, place the liquid soap in a jar. Cap and shake vigorously to mix the oils. Label and use as needed.
You can also try making liquid soap with brews. To the three cups hot water add five to six tablespoons mixed, dried, ground and empowered herbs rather than the oils mentioned in the following recipes. Take off the heat, let steep for 10 to 13 minutes and strain. Gently reheat the water, add one cup Castile soap shavings. whisk and allow to cool. It is ready for use.
Unfortunately, when herb brews are mixed with Castile soap the scent changes dramatically. If you try it, you'll understand what I mean. If you don't like the results, fortify the scent with a few drops of the oil form of one of the included herbs.
To use the liquid soaps, simply wet your hands and apply a few drops of the soap. It foams easily and leaves your skin clean and scented.
The recipes follow. As you can see, there are endless varieties of soaps waiting to be concocted. Most of the oil recipes can be used in scenting soaps. Once you've mastered the basics, make up a few types and keep them on hand in case of ritual need.
Some of these recipes suggest using rose water or orange flower water in place of plain water in making the soap/water mixture. This can be used or not, but use only water scented with genuine orange flower essential oil or rose essential oil.
Store unused soaps in your altar if it is designed with cupboards or shelves below it. Or, simply place them in your herb cupboard.
Remember - use ritual soaps with power. Visualize your magical goal as you wash.
3 parts Myrrh
2 parts frankincense
1 part Lotus Bouquet
Use before any Egyptian or Isian ritual. Also, wash with this soap to develop spiritual awareness. If you wish, substitute rose water for the water in which the soap chips are melted. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LOVE SOAP
4 parts Geranium
3 parts Palmarosa
2 parts Neroli
1 part Ginger
Wash with this soap to attract love, or prior to love rituals. And again, rose water may be used in the same proportions as plain water in preparing the soap. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LUCK SOAP
2 parts Vetivert
1 part Orange
1 part Nutmeg
Wash to change your "luck" or to bring positive energies into your life. Orange flower water may be used in place of plain water during soap manipulation. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MONEY SOAP
3 parts Patchouli
2 parts Peppermint
1 part Basil
1 part Pine
1 part Cinnamon
Wash your hands daily with this soap to attract money, or use prior to money-drawing rituals. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MOON SOAP
3 parts Sandalwood
2 parts Camphor
1 part Lemon
1 part Eucalyptus
Use before rituals on the Full Moon to attune with its energies. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PROTECTION SOAP
4 parts Rosemary
3 parts Basil
1 part Frankincense
1 part Bay
1 part Mint
Wash daily with this soap when you feel the need for protection, or before such spells. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PSYCHIC SOAP
3 parts Lemongrass
2 parts Bay
1 part Cinnamon
Wash with this soap to increase your psychic awareness, especially prior to divinatory or psychic workings. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SABBAT SOAP
4 parts Sandalwood
1 part Myrrh
3 parts Rosemary
1 part Bay
2 parts Patchouli
1 part Lemon
1 part Cinnamon
1 part Ginger
Use during ritual baths prior to Sabbats or as a general magical cleanser. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WITCH'S SOAP
3 parts Rosemary
2 parts Pine
1 part Cinnamon
1 part Orange
Wash with this soap before rituals of all kinds to increase your personal power.
To give credit where credit is due, research for these instructions came from "The Complete Book of Incense, Oils, and Brews" by Scott Cunningham, "Back to Basics" by Reader's Digest, and the good old trial-and-error testing technique.
Sacred Soap
Ingredients:
Castile Soap - I use Kirk's brand, but any bar of Castile should work EXCEPT one already scented or those green ones made with olive oil (unless you're using a scent that goes well with olive).
Scent - I used 1 dram of 100% lavender essential oil per 4 oz bar of soap last time. This makes for a powerful nasal wallop. If your oil is "cut" you may need to use more. Also, I've heard of using herbs, other smelly things, etc. but have not done so myself. If you try it, let me know how it works.
Knife - to cut up the soap
Wooden Spoon Or Stir Stick - to stir with
Double Boiler - sounds intimidating, doesn't it? I half-filled a
frying pan with water, put the soap in a heat-proof ceramic bowl, and
put the bowl in the frying pan. If you've made candles, you known how
to do this. The idea is to heat the soap SLOWLY and to NOT ALLOW
ANYTHING TO BOIL. Got it?
Cheesecloth - You can probably find this in your grocery store -even
the hole-in-the-wall mom-and-pop-shop in my neighborhood has it. It's
usually by the dish soap, gloves, mops, scrubbies, etc. Also available
at hardware stores and auto supply outlets.
Optional Soap Molds - These are small molds, often wooden, in which you
pour or press molten soap to make bars. You can find them in antique
stores or craft shops. Or make your own. You don't strictly need them
(I don't use them, for instance), but some people like them.
Consecration: Now, I'm not going to tell anyone how to "charge" or
"bless" or otherwise consecrate this stuff - use something from your
own tradition. You can either bless tools and ingredients prior to
starting or bless the finished soap. Either way seems to work fine.
Step One: Get everything laid out in your kitchen. Get the double-boiler read on the stove, have your soap and scent on hand, your knife ready, etc. Cut the cheesecloth into pieces about 6 inches square. This is real approximate. You can just make one huge bar out of this, or many little ones. I usually make four, 1 oz balls of soap.
Step Two: Chop up the soap. I recommend you start with just one bar for your first time, and in any case working with small batches seems to work better (at least for me). Chop the soap very fine. Mince it. Crumble it. Don't worry about mess - the dust will wipe up later with water AND clean your kitchen table at the same time.
Step Three: Put the soap in the bowl part of your double-boiler. Turn on the heat. Now watch carefully. You don't want the water to boil, just get hot, and you CERTAINLY don't want the soap to boil. The soap crumbs will slowly melt into a clear liquid with bubbles in it. You don't have to melt the soap completely, either, although it doesn't hurt. You can stir the soap to make sure it heats evenly.
Step Four: Remove bowl from double-boiler when soap is molten. Be careful, it's hot! At this point add your scent(s) and stir thoroughly. As the mixture cools the soap will start to become stiff and more opaque. When stiff enough to not ooze back into the trail your spoon makes when stirring it is ready to be molded.
Step Five: You can either do as I do, pick up a lump of soft soap and roll it into a bar, then wrap it tightly in cheesecloth, or use a soap mold. In any case, you need to let it cool off, dry out a little, and harden in a dry place (I use my pantry).
Although you CAN use this immediately, after a few days of drying it has a more solid feel and won't leave ooze marks on whatever you set it down on.
This sort of soap dissolves easily - don't let it sit in a puddle in your soap dish or you'll get a pleasantly scented puddle of ooze.
You should ALSO be able to scent liquid Castile soap by adding scents and stirring VERY thoroughly.
About Essential Oils: Please use a little caution. Some oils are irritating to the skin (cinnamon oil), some toxic, and some people are allergic to even the most natural and pure of substances. If you or someone who is using this soap has sensitive skin please do a "test wash" on a small area to be sure there will be no bad reactions.
Old-Fashioned Witch Soap
4 lbs. lard
13 oz. lye (1 can)
5 cups cold water
1 tablespoon lavender oil
1 tablespoon patchouli oil
1 cup fresh strawberry juice
1/4 cup dried soap bark herb (optional)
In a large enamel or iron kettle, melt the lard over very low heat. (Important Note: Never use aluminum pots or utensils when working with soap containing lye.) In a separate iron or enamel pot, stir together the lye and the water. Heat until small bubbles begin to appear - do not boil. Remove from the heat and slowly pour the lye solution into the lard. With a big wooden spoon, stir in the lavender and patchouli oils, the strawberry juice and soap bark herb. Simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring frequently. Pour into two-inch-deep greased enamel or glass pans and allow to cool overnight. Cut the soap into squares and leave in the pans for at least 3 days before removing. Place the soap bars on waxed paper and allow them to age in a draft-free area for 4 to 6 weeks before using.