Crafts & Recipes
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HALLOWEEN: Crafts Ideas, Patterns, Stencils, E-Cards, etc. (LINKS,
KIDS, FUN!)
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Cajun Spiced Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
From Diana Rattray
Your Guide to Southern U.S. Cuisine
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Double or triple this roasted pumpkin seed recipe, depending on how many cups of seeds you have. One large pumpkin will generally yield 1 cup or pumpkin seeds, and smaller pie pumpkins will yield about the same amount. Toss a salad with these seeds, sprinkle over a chicken dish, or serve as a snack.
INGREDIENTS:
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1 cup pumpkin seeds |
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1 scant teaspoon Cajun seasoning, or to taste |
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paprika, for more color, if desired |
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a little salt, depending on saltiness of the seasoning |
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2 dashes Worcestershire sauce |
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1 tablespoon melted butter or vegetable oil |
PREPARATION:
Rinse seeds well and get as much of the pumpkin pulp off of them as possible. Some of the small pieces are going to adhere, but they won't hurt the seeds at all, and might even add a little more flavor.
Pat dry with paper towels. Don't let them dry completely on the paper towels, because they might stick!
Toss pumpkin seeds with seasonings. Combine butter and Worcestershire sauce; stir into seeds until well blended and coated.
Heat oven to 300°. Roast, turning from time to time, for about 45 to 60 minutes, or until nicely browned and crunchy.
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3 parts rosemary oil
2 parts pine oil
1 part cinnamon oil
1 part orange oil
(Use before rituals to increase personal power)
Procedure:
Grate castile soap into a large bowl. Pack this into a measuring cup until you have exactly one cup. (per type of soap) Be sure to pack it. Heat 3 cups of water until almost boiling. Add the soap chips to the water. Turn off heat and whip with a wooden spoon or metal whisk until the soap is completely melted. Let sit until cool, then add 50 - 60 drops of the mixed oils. The exact amount will vary. Stop adding oils when soap is heavily scented. Using a funnel, place the liquid soap in a jar or bottle. Cap and shake vigorously to mix in the oils.
*** If you're really short on time, you can always buy a bottle of unscented liquid soap and add the essential oils to it.
(One may find infusing mixture with personalized spell can be especially beneficial.)
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Pumpkin Treats for Your Skin
By Cait Johnson
Autumn can play some nasty tricks on your skin with its winds and chilly weather. But these great treats use pumpkin, the perfect icon of the season, to help nourish your skin beautifully, sloughing off dead cells to reveal the fresh new skin underneath. Pumpkin, after all, contains lots of anti-oxidant vitamins A and C, as well as zinc and beneficial alpha-hydroxy acids.
Pumpkin Facial Mask
2 teaspoons cooked or canned pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon honey
1/4 teaspoon milk (or whipping cream, if your skin is very dry)
1. Combine ingredients and apply to a clean face with gentle circular
motions, avoiding the area around your eyes.
2. Allow mask to remain on skin for 10 to 15 minutes, then rinse with
warm water, pat dry, and apply your usual moisturizer.
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Pumpkin, Sugar, and Spice Scrub
1/2 cup cooked or canned pumpkin, pureed
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1. Combine ingredients in a bowl.
2. Stand in a tub or shower stall and use a damp washcloth to scoop some of the mixture up. Apply to body, starting with your feet and working your way up, but avoiding your face. Scrub gently using circular motions.
3. Rinse with warm water and pat dry.
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1 Drop Queen of the Night Oil
3 drops rose oil
1 drop lemon verbena oil
4 fl. oz (120cc) white spirit
Blend the three oils in a bottle. Add the white spirit, and shake all vigorously. A cologne can be made by adding another 1 FL. oz (30cc) of white spirit and 3 fl. oz (90cc) of distilled water
From 'The Witches' Goddess by Janet Stewart Farrar (C) 1987 and published by Phoenix Publishing Inc.
*I don't know what Queen of Night Oil is, the only thing I can find that's close is Queen of Sheba Oil, which is equal parts of frankincense, myrrh, rose, spikenard, and cinnamon oils added to a base of grapeseed oil. Cinnamon can cause skin irritations, so keep it to a minimum.. *
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1 fl.oz (30cc) lemon verbena or Lime oil
2 fl.oz (60cc) coriander oil
1/2 fl.oz. (15cc) camphor or myrrh oil
1/4 fl.oz. (7cc) white spirit
3 3/4 fl.oz. (105cc) distilled water
Blend the oils in a bottle, add the spirit and water and shake all vigorously. Increasing the myrrh oils gives a darker perfume; increasing the camphor, a lighter and more spicy one. All perfumes 'behave' differently on different skins, so it is worth experimenting to find your own balance.
From 'The Witches' Goddess by Janet Stewart Farrar (C) 1987 and published by Phoenix Publishing Inc.
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Mabon centerpiece
Materials:
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A basket (in fall colors or with trimmings to make it autumn-oriented) |
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A doll-sized scarecrow (or materials to make one of your own) |
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Real or fake autumn leaves |
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Real or fake gourds/nuts/seeds of the season |
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Dried herbs or potpourri of the season (apple scent works well) |
Directions:
First you’ll want to prepare your basket. It can be a small or large basket of any style, but you can decorate it for the season any way you desire (if it has a handle, consider winding or gluing acorn strings around it). Into the center of the basket, you place your scarecrow figure. It can be bought as a harvest decoration at a store, or it can be one you make yourself out of straw and fabric—if you opt to make your own, you can dress it up appropriately and give it season-appropriate clothing and symbols. There is the option of making only the torso of the figure since only that will show, but if you’ve already got one with legs, they will be covered up by the ornamentation. Find a way to anchor the doll into the basket. Then you can dump an apple-cinnamon or autumn-flavored potpourri or series of dried herbs around the scarecrow in the basket, and intersperse this with leaves, nuts, and gourds. Buying tiny craft gourds around this time of year is easy and cheap, and they don’t go rancid in the middle of the season, which is a plus. You might even throw in stars made out of twigs and tied together with wire, or any other symbol that means something to you. The basket has a nice effect of decorating a table or altar for the time between the autumn equinox and the landmark of Halloween. Ritual use:
In ritual, you can use an actual corn dolly instead of a crafty scarecrow, so that it has more meaning, and each item added to the basket can have symbolic value. One suggestion is to gather up enough acorns to stand for your wishes for the season, and ceremoniously place each in the basket as you think of its purpose. The basket can be anointed and dedicated to a deity if you wish.
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Horn of Plenty
Materials:
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Horn of plenty--plastic or basket-woven |
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Fake or real fruits of the harvest: Grapes, citrus fruit, corn, pumpkin, especially apples |
Directions:
Simply place the fruit inside the horn so that it is aesthetically pleasing. It is best to make it look as if the bounty is spilling outwards, extending its nourishment.
Ritual use:
The horn itself, before being filled, can be used in ritual as a symbol to "drink" from to symbolically consume the harvest. It is symbolic of the mother Goddess's womb. It can then be filled as a symbol that the fruits of the Goddess never run dry.
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