Magickal Herbalism - Ointments Part 1
by Blayze

Many people will be familiar with the use of anointing oils used for ritual purposes, even if they do not know how to blend the oils themselves. Anointing oils are used to rub into candles or magical tools. They are also used to anoint our bodies either before or during a ritual. Magickal ointments serve the same purpose, although they are generally only used to anoint skin rather than tools.

Many ointments are semi-solid when in their containers but melt into the skin on contact with our own body heat and are often more potent when combined with the heat of dancing. They are fairly simple to make and easy to transport. They can even have the benefit of acting as a moisturiser. 

There are three main types of ointments that I use. One way is to use a mixture of beeswax and base oil and add essential oils to the melted wax. It can be difficult to strain herbs out of beeswax so this is why oils are used. The second way is to just add a mix of appropriate essential oils to a neutral base cream. These base creams are available in health food shops and are made by most essential oil manufactures. They are often labelled as aromatherapy base creams.

Sometimes the essential oil of an herb is hard to get, or very expensive, but the herb itself is readily available. If you wish to use these herbs in an anointing mix then a fat, lard or copha based ointment is probably the way to go. Powdered herbs can then be added to the melted fat that absorbs all of the oils and vibrations of the herbs. This mix is then strained and bottled. 

These ointments do have a limited shelf life, but you can add other ingredients to keep them from becoming spoilt too quickly. For fat based ointments add a couple of drops of benzoin tincture and for beeswax mixes add some wheatgerm oil. 

There are many good books available that have ointment recipes in them. If you wish to make your own recipes remember that you need to understand the properties of the herbs that you are using, to make sure that they are not poisonous or harmful. Also make sure you use herbs that correspond to the magickal intent for which you are making the ointment.

As with making anything for a magical purpose, it is best to start with a clean environment, to have all of your tools and ingredients ready and have a clear image of your goal in your mind. You may wish to charge the ointment with energy as you make it, or charge it later. This is up to you, however it is a good idea to do your magickal charging within a protected environment, i.e a sacred space or circle, so that only your stated intent gets mixed into your ointment and not anything else that may be floating around. We will look at making a beeswax based ointment in this issue. 

To make a beeswax based ointment you will need a pot of water, a heat source like a stove, campfire or camp stove, a clean tin can, some beeswax, a base oil like olive oil or almond oil, an old spoon or a clean stick, a clean and sterilized jar and your chosen essential oils.

To make a fairly solid ointment use approximately half beeswax and half base oil. For a softer ointment use 1 part beeswax to 2 parts base oil. This can take some practice depending on the quality of the beeswax and how much essential oil that you use. 

Heat your pot of water until simmering. Place your beeswax into the tin can and sit the can in the simmering water and keep stirring with a spoon to help the wax melt evenly. This will slowly melt the wax, give you control of the amount of heat and make clean-up much easier.  When the wax has melted remove it from the heated water and let it cool just a little. Pour in your base oil and place back on the heat and keep stirring. When the wax and base oil have blended together, again remove from the heat. Let the mixture cool to the point where you can still stir it but it isn’t steaming. Now is the time to add your essential oils, a few drops of each will do. You want the aromas of the oils to stay in the wax. If the wax is too hot then the aromas will evaporate, like in an oil burner. If your mix cools too much just place the can back in the water for a moment. Keep stirring until the oils have blended, then pour the liquid into your waiting jar. You may wish to warm the jar first to avoid it cracking, especially in cold weather.

The next article in this series will look at a copha and herb based ointment and give you some recipes and recommended books.