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New Blog Posts

 
Managing Magic with Small Children
 
In which friends Sarah and Cin talk about what it’s like to be a witch mom, give tips on how to juggle magic alongside tiny mischief makers, and talk about how to keep in touch with your magical practice when all you want is sleep and quiet.

Once upon a time when I was childless (which seems very long ago, but has really only been three and a half years), I was a very active witch. I really do mean very active. I had my own personal magical practice working with my familiar spirits and the land, I worked with small groups of friends, I circled with a few large ritual groups, I was on the board of the local pagan festival, I taught workshops, I hosted rituals, I hosted events, and I wrote frequently about the practice of magic. Those who have known me for years will have noticed most of that has either completely stopped for the past few years, or has significantly slowed down.

I had my first son in 2014 and now I am about to have my second son this April. I love being a mom and I love my tiny adorable man who is so clever, funny, helpful, and such a goody-two-shoes, but I never could have imagined how incredibly tired I would be. I’m fairly certain small children have so much energy because they are secretly borrowing it from you! You know going in that babies and kids are going to be hard, but no one can really tell you just how hard until you experience it for yourself. It is a life-changing switch of going from an independent person who mainly has to worry about their own self-care to a parent who has to worry about tiny humans every second of every day… even when said tiny humans are sleeping.

Read the complete article...


Awake from the Dream to the Nightmare of Reality

Things are not okay people. We are not going to be okay. The apocalypse isn’t a myth or a possible future, we are living it in the here and now. We have gone too far, we are too many, and we have caused too much harm. This time it won’t just be the fall of an empire mimicking the fall of Rome. It will be the fall of humanity and the destruction of the Earth. All of civilization and all of nature is at risk.

It makes me physically sick to see people who watch it all happening and stay silent and think it’s not their problem. It makes me ill to see people agree with the oppressors and their vile beliefs and actions promoting racism, xenophobia, social injustice, and harm to the environment. It breaks my heart to see people protest injustice in great numbers only to go back to their normal lives of satellite tv, starbucks coffee, yoga, and mindless phone scrolling the day after as if one protest would solve the problem and their work was done; someone else will do the rest. Have we become so numb, so insensitive that we can ignore the pain of other people and the cruelty we enact on Nature?

Read the complete article...

Let's Talk About My Nightshade Ointments

Some of you may have noticed changes in where my nightshade (aka flying ointments) can be shipped, and others who haven't been by the website in a long time may have noticed they are no longer labelled flying ointments and I no longer make the magical recipes I did before. If you're the latter, please read this blog post where I explain the transition from flying ointments to medicinal nightshade salves for pain, anxiety, and insomnia:
On Flying Ointments as Medicine

I have been making these ointments for almost ten years now and it has taken that long to research the legality of medicinal nightshade plants for topical application as the information is scattered, incomplete and varies from country to country and between each US state. As far as my research can tell, mandrake is the only unregulated herb I work with - likely due to it's rarity and lack of use in modern traditional herbalism. It is the only nightshade ointment I can ship within Canada at this time. The Belladonna ointment can be shipped to the USA and internationally with the exception of Germany where it is regulated and requires a prescription (same applies for Henbane and Datura).

Datura is the most heavily regulated and restricted of all the nightshade herbs I work with. I cannot ship it within Canada or to Germany, and I cannot ship it to the following US states: Connecticut, Nevada, and Oklahoma.

It was surprising to learn that my home country of Canada has stricter regulations regarding medicinal nightshades than the United States does as the FDA is known to be pretty brutal to small scale makers of herbal products. They are heavily regulated due to their potency, toxicity, narcotic properties, and because of their important use in many pharmaceutical medicines made today. To legally sell my nightshade ointments in Canada and have them regulated by Health Canada (our version of the FDA) I need to either obtain NHP's (Natural Health Product Numbers), which is an expensive process usually only large corporations can handle, or I need to sell them behind a consultation as a practicing herbalist as a prescribed medicine.

As I am not yet able to realistically obtain NHP's from Health Canada, I will have to choose the second route for the time being. I am currently 8+ months pregnant with my second son and am about to be very busy with a new baby, so this isn't going to happen right away! However, once the baby is a few months old, my goal is to create a consultation page on both of my websites so both local and long distance Canadians can have a consultation with me as a herbalist about their issue and I can help prescribe the nightshade ointment or other medicines I make that are best to treat that issue. Private consultations will not be open to any health issue as I am a specialist - my focus will solely be on helping people with pain, sleep issues, sex/fertility, and anxiety/depression.

If you are Canadian and just want one of my nightshade ointments for magical/trancework purposes, you will still have to go through the consultation process in order to legally purchase an ointment from me... kind of like a recreational cannabis user going through the legal process of getting a medical marijuana card, but with less paperwork.

Americans and residents of other countries (aside from Germany) don't really have anything to worry about - purchase my ointments as usual!

So there you have it, you've been updated on the legal status of medicinal nightshades (belladonna, datura, henbane, and mandrake) for topical use.
Nightshade ointments are currently sold out in the apothecary, but new batches are being made as I type this and Belladonna, Datura, and Mandrake ointments will be restocked this weekend - likely Saturday night or Sunday morning.

As a treat I will also be making a limited release of a "Four Nightshades" ointment made with all four medicinal nightshades (belladonna, datura, henbane, and mandrake). I used to call this recipe my "Sabbat Flying Ointment" because it is most similar to documented flying ointment recipes from the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period as well as, coincidentally, soporific sponge recipes used by early surgeons for medical procedures, and pain relieving ointments made by monk-healers at early Christian monasteries.
I will be temporarily closing my Etsy shop where I sell prints of my original artwork as of April 2, 2017 in preparation for the new baby coming. The apothecary will remain open, but I can't juggle two shops and two kiddos. If you've had your eye on any of my artwork, now is a good time to snap them up!

My artwork is not created digitally, but hand illustrated and hand painted. The prints of the originals are scanned versions printed on high quality matte photo paper with a professional laser printer. I love to draw skulls, bones, and poisonous plants! If you have any questions about my artwork, please see my artist bio and FAQs.
Visit Print Shop
Belladonna & Crow Skull

$20.00 CAD
Buy Now
Sigil of Serpent & Toad

$22.00 CAD
Buy Now
By Stang and Cauldron

$20.00 CAD
Buy Now
Copyright © 2017 Sarah Anne Lawless, All rights reserved.


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