Potpourri  Recipes

GERANIUM POTPOURRI

Combine:
3 cups rose petals
3 cups geranium petals
1 cup peppermint leaves
1 cup lavender petals
1 TBS powdered nutmegs
1 TBS powdered cloves
1 TBS powdered orris root

MOTH REPELLENT POTPOURRI

2 cups southernwood
1 cup tansy
1 cup lavender
1/2 cup orange peels
2 tablespoons cloves

Combine. Place in sachets for dresser drawers and chests or place in drawstring pouches and hang in closets.

POTPOURRI SPICE MIX

1/2 oz. broken cloves
1/2 oz. crushed gum benzoin
1/2 oz. powdered orris root
1/2 oz. powdered allspice, with a few whole berries
1/2 oz. powdered mace
1/2 oz. whole coriander seeds
1/2 oz. cinnamon stick crushed or cinnamon powder

Lightly mix together the above ingredients to make the spice mix. Choose a pretty jar with a lid to hold your potpourri. Into the jar place a layer of dried flower petals, such as rose, lavender, lemon verbena, or tiny rose buds. Over each layer sprinkle some of the spice mix. Continue layering and sprinkling until the jar is filled. To freshen a room, simply remove the jar's lid.

APPLE POTPOURRI

You will need:
1 large apple
2 teaspoons grated nutmeg
1 cup 1-inch cinnamon stick
cinnamon oil
1/2 cup red rosehips
apple-spice oil

First, prepare the apple slices. Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of grated nutmeg onto a metal pie pan. Cut apple into quarters, remove core, slice into thin pieces. Now lay these pieces on the pie pan, sprinkle with remaining nutmeg and dry until leathery. Any source of low, dry heat will do: the mantel over a wood-stove, the top of a radiator, or an oven preheated to 150°F., then the heat turned off. In about two days the slices will be dry.

Meantime, put cinnamon stick in a quart jar and drop 7 drops cinnamon oil on it.
Allow to rest for a day. Then put red rosehips in the jar, treat them to 12 drops apple-spice oil and shake well. Now add the apple slices dried with nutmeg and shake the whole thing together. This potpourri smells heavenly as soon as it is blended, and it improves even more with aging.

HERB GARDEN POTPOURRI

2 cups rosemary leaves
1 cup marjoram leaves
1/2 cup each thyme, sage, summer savory leaves
1 cup each dried orange peel and coarse salt

Note: 1/4 to 1/2 cup orris root may be substituted for the salt in any of these recipes.

ATTAR OF ROSES

"Attar" is a rose petal oil. The damask rose varieties (Rosa damascena) are good for making attar. I'd heard that Rosa damascena trigintipetala is the most highly regarded variety for making potpourri and attar. But Patricia Wiley says the best is Rosa damascena bifera, the rose of Castile. Pure attar of roses is extracted from fresh petals. The finest potpourris are made by spraying attar on dried, mixed petals and buds. Fill a large glass jar with rose petals, carefully separated from the rest of the plant. Add just enough water to cover them and let the jar set in the sun 2-3 days, bringing it indoors overnight. At the end of the second or third day, small particles of yellow oil will be floating on the surface of the water. In the course of a week, they will have increased to a thin scum. The greenish-yellow scum is attar of roses. Take it up with a little cotton tied to the end of a stick, and squeeze it into a small container. Or use a feather. On the commercial market, attar of roses is very pricey stuff, a valuable ingredient of perfumes.  It takes a whole lot of roses to make even a tiny bit of attar: approximately 5 lb. of petals for 1 oz. of oil!

VICTORIAN PIINCUSHION POTPOURRI

4 ounces rose petals
2 ounces lavender flowers
1 broken cinnamon stick
1 ounce granular frankincense
2 ounces rosemary

Use dried flowers. Many Victorian pincushions were stuffed with rough-cut potpourri; sometimes the mixture was wrapped in cotton to make it easier to insert the pins.

Moon Magick by DJ Conway

SPICE SURPRISE

6 nutmegs, chopped up *
5 cinnamon sticks, broken up *
3 vanilla beans, cut in pieces
1 tablespoon each crushed anise seeds and allspice
1/2 cup whole cloves
1 cup coarse salt or 1/2 cup orris root

*Place in double plastic bags; chop up on breadboard with hammer.

POTPOURRI BAGS

As recently as the early 1900's, perfumed bags for drawers were used to impart a pleasant odour to clothing, stationery, and the room itself. Houses tended to get damp and musty smelling, and this was one of the methods housewives used to overcome the problem. The following has been modified from a nineteenth century recipe.

2 ounces yellow sandalwood
2 ounces coriander seeds
2 ounces orris root
2 ounces calamus aromaticus
2 ounces cloves
2 ounces cinnamon bark
2 ounces dried rose petals
2 ounces lavender flowers
1 pound oak shavings

Cut and slice the ingredients into a course powder and mix well together. Essential oils of rose and lavender may be discreetly added to intensify the scents. Put the mixture into small draw-string bags and place in clothing drawers.

Moon Magick by D.J. Conway

ALL-ROSE POTPOURRI

This potpourri has a prettier colour, but it doesn't stay near as fragrant as long as the moist one. Gather your fragrant roses in the early morning just after the dew is off. Use roses between three-quarters and full bloom. Simply hold petals together with the tips of your fingers and twist. They will usually all come off in your hand. Gather small buds too. Dry your petals and buds on a screen or cloth or in a dehydrator, out of direct sunlight. When dry, combine with powdered orrisroot and set out in an open-topped jar. Or use in a sachet.

PROTECTING & PURIFYING POTPOURRI FOR SPRING CLEANING

by Edain McCoy

There is more to having a clean house than just the physical absence of dust and debris. By using magical potpourris your house will not only be clean, but the vibrational field around it will be purified, and the area surrounding it well protected from both human and astral invaders.

Each potpourri you wish to make will require:

Small amount of dried or fresh herbs and/or flowers in pleasing combinations of scents

A small square of cotton or cheesecloth fabric, cut in a circle about eight inches in diameter

A few inches of coloured ribbon with which to tie the bags shut

The colour of the bag can be any which appeals to your inner senses. The ribbon tie can be of the same colour, or of any other which catches your fancy.

The potpourris should be infused with your magickal intent as you mix and make them. Mix all ingredients well, trying to "marry" the scent of the oils to the solid matter as much as possible. Continue visualising as you stuff and tie the bags. They can then be hung above doors or windows, or placed discreetly in drawers around your house. Each time you catch their gentle scent, know that their magick is at work. You can revive lost odour by adding a bit more oil, or by emptying the contents onto a cookie sheet and heating for a few minutes in a lukewarm oven.

PROTECTION POTPOURRI #1

2 dozen cloves
3 drops cinnamon oil
3 bruised cinnamon sticks
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
small handful fresh pine needles

PROTECTION POTPOURRI #2

3 dozen peppercorns
3 drops ginger oil
6 drops nutmeg oil
scant 1/4 cup dried orange peels
1 teaspoon dried rosemary

PURIFICATION POTPOURRI #1

1 tablespoon solid myrrh gum
1/4 cup dried sage
3 drops lemon oil
2 tablespoons fresh lavender
1 drop eucalyptus oil
1 drop frankincense oil

PURIFICATION POTPOURRI #2

3 drops ylang-ylang oil
6 bruised vanilla beans
1/4 cup dries or fresh rose petals
4 drops rose oil
6 drops vanilla extract

These mixtures make fine gifts if packed in canning jars, labelled, and tied with a ribbon of the appropriate colour. (I think that they would sell well also.)

The following recipes yield approximately enough for one use. These may be doubled or tripled and the magickal potpourri kept in tight containers for later use.

To use these mixtures, fill a pot with at least 2 cups water. Add the mixture. Simmer over low heat for 1/2 hour or longer. If you'll be simmering for longer than a half-hour, add more water. If you wish, use a potholder to carry the simmering pan around your house to further spread its energies.

Spell Crafts by Scott Cunningham and David Harrington

LOVE SIMMERING POTPOURRI
To expand, broaden, or to introduce love into your life, simmer this mixture of herbs. (This can be used to strengthen a long-lasting relationship, or to bring your own family closer together. Love begins within. Love yourself, then seek another with whom to share love.)

3 TBS rose petals
2 TBS chamomile
1 TBS coriander
1 TBS lavender
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 vanilla bean

Mix in a small bowl and charge with loving energies. Simmer while saying:

"Love awakens
In these rooms;
Come by the power
Of these blooms!"

Use every day.

MONEY SIMMERING POTPOURRI
If money is a problem rather than a pleasure, when you're faced with unexpected financial obligations, when the money you earn doesn't seem to come in fast enough, brew up one of these and set money attracting energies into motion.

2 cinnamon sticks, broken into pieces
4 TBS whole cardamom seeds
2TBS whole cloves
1 tsp. ground nutmegs (or two whole nutmegs)
1 tsp. ground ginger

With your fingers, mix these ingredients in a small bowl, while visualising increased prosperity. As you mix them, say these or similar words:

"Money simmer in the air;
Money shimmer everywhere!"

To use, simmer according to the instructions above.

PROTECTIVE SIMMERING POTPOURRI
Simmer this mixture at regular intervals (once a week or so) to drench your home with protective energy. This safeguards it from outside influences of all kinds - if it's performed with the proper intent.

4 TBS rosemary (whole)
3 bay leaves (whole)
1 TBS basil (whole)
1 TBS sage (whole)
1 TBS fennel (whole)
1 tsp dill seed (whole)
1 tsp juniper berries (whole)
A pinch dried garlic (can be omitted)

Mix in a small bowl with hands, visualising your home as a protected place. Charge the herbs with protective energies. Add to simmering water. When the scent steam rises, chant the following or similar words:

"Air and Water, work my will
To guard this house with power bold;
Earth and fire, work to still
All dangers both untold and told."

PURIFICATION SIMMERING POTPOURRI
While spring cleaning or at any time you wish to clear away the cobwebs of useless energies that exist within all homes, after household arguments, when a room mate moves out, whenever tension is in the air, simmer this mixture with at least one window open. (During winter or rain, open the fireplace damper, crack a window an inch, or otherwise ensure that there's a clear and easy path out of your home for the duration of the ritual.)

6 TBS peppermint
1 TBS spearmint
1 TBS rosemary
1TBS dried lemon peel
1 TBS dried lime peel

Mix, charge, and simmer as you say these or similar words:

"Scented breeze, blow pure and clear
Unwanted power far from here."

PSYCHIC SIMMERING POT
If you wish to link your conscious mind with your psychic awareness, if you wish to use tarot cards or rune stones or other tools to glimpse possible future events, create this blend and simmer to stimulate your psychic mind.

3 TBS galangal
1 TBS star anise (or 2 whole)
1 TBS lemon grass
1 TBS thyme
1 TBS rose petals
A pinch mace
A pinch real saffron

Mix and charge the herbs in a small bowl. Visualise your psychic awareness as being under your control. Smell the fragrance rising from the herbs. Inhale the energies. Relax, chant the following words, and foretell.

"Starlight swirls before my eyes;
Twilight furls its wisdom wise;
Moonlight curls within the skies:
The time has come to prophesise."

We realise that genuine saffron is quite expensive. However just a pinch is necessary here and it may be omitted.

SIXTEENTH CENTURY POTPOURRI MIX

1 pint peppermint leaves, cut
1 pint lavender flowers
1 tablespoon well-crushed caraway seeds
1 pint thyme
1 tablespoon crushed cloves and coriander
1 tablespoon crushed gum benzoin or orris root

Lightly mix together all of the ingredients. Put into a potpourri jar with a few dried rose and marigold petals on the top for colour.

Moon Magick by D.J. Conway

HOMEMADE PETAL POTPOURRI

1 tablespoon each of the whole spices: cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and mace

10 drops each of lavender essential oil, rosemary essential oil or any of your choice

1 litre of dried scented flower petals

30g dried orris root

Place the dried flowers in a bowl, sprinkling layers with the orris root. Add the ground-up whole spices to the mix and then add the essential oils. Turn potpourri by hand at least twice a week.

ROSE AND MINT POTPOURRI

2 cups dried rose petals

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon crushed cloves

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon dried mint leaves

2 teaspoons orris root powder

3 drops rose essential oil

Combine dried flowers and leaves in a large bowl. Add spices. Drop oil into orris root powder and combine all ingredients thoroughly. Store in a sealed container for at least one month before using. Shake well before use.

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