Clearing Your Space and That Beanstalk Story with Amy Blackthorn

Untitled project from SquadCast

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[00:00:00] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Hello and welcome everyone to Dine with the Divine. I'm Ashley your host and as usual today we'll be going into the world of the magical, the mystical and everything in between. So on today's episode we'll talk a little bit about cleansing your space and we will also be telling one of everyone's favorite Fairy tales.

[00:00:24] . Anyway, so today we have a fantastic guest. We have Amy Blackthorne with us. Amy Blackthorne is an award winning author of the bestsellers Blackthorne's Botanical Magic, Sacred Smoke, Blackthorne's Botanical Bruise, Blackthorn's protective magic and Blackthorn's botanical wellness. She has been described as an arcane horticulturist, horticulturist, I'm sorry,

[00:00:51] for her lifelong work with the magical plants and with magical plants and teaching. She [00:01:00] incorporates her experiences in British traditional witchcraft with her horticulture studies. She has a certification in aromatherapy and is ordained through the Order of the Golden Griffin. Amy's company, Black Nord's Botanicals, creates tea based on magical association. She has appeared on Huffington Post live Netflix top 10 secrets and mysteries in an episode about supernatural abilities and the AP Newswire. She lives in Delaware and you can find any of her teas at her tea shop at blackthornsbotanicals. com. Amy, how are you?

[00:01:41] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: I'm amazing. Thank you so much for having me today.

[00:01:43] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: No problem. I'm so happy to talk to you. How I always ask everybody how they got into this in the first place.

[00:01:52] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: So I it's a little, it's a little twofold. I started with plants and then I worked into magic instead of magic and then plants. So when I [00:02:00] was about, Goodness, 11 years old. I, my older sister who I shared a bedroom with, came home with her best friend and they're sneaking and giggles and having a great time with their, whatever secret project they were engaged in.

[00:02:16] They're guarding very carefully their book bags and scurrying up the stairs. And the easiest and the quickest way to get a younger assembly involved in your business is to tell them they're not invited.

[00:02:26] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Absolutely.

[00:02:27] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: I was kicked out of my own room. I'm like, okay, you got something good in there. I figured it was some righteous candy or something that you didn't want to share.

[00:02:34] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yeah.

[00:02:35] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: So I waited until after bed, Holly falls asleep. Everybody's, the whole house is quiet. There's a hush. And I sneak pig Panther style out of my bed doo, across the bedroom. Into her side of the room, where her book bag is waiting,

[00:02:52] mysteries. And so I open that thing, one tooth of a zipper at a time, until I open the bag, [00:03:00] and I grab the whatever it is in there, and I sneak back to my bed, and I scurry under the covers, and I look, by the light of the gas station, down the end of the block, Not, we can't risk a flashlight.

[00:03:10] No.

[00:03:11] And I looked And it's Wicca Guide for a Solitaire Practitioner by Scott Cunningham. So I read it cover to cover in an hour or something ridiculous And I was hooked. I had to go and to the library. I was going to the library after school every day and wandering around the nonfiction section and then 133 is going, give me everything I can find on magic.

[00:03:36] I was hooked.

[00:03:38] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Interesting. What what about it was like the first, what was one of the things? You can tell me any of the things that you were reading about or that you related to that really drew you in.

[00:03:53] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: It wasn't just the sense of agency, although it was a big part of it.

[00:03:57] It was the idea that the natural [00:04:00] forces that I had worked with every day, out under the sunshine, trying to grow my plants and really develop my little friends. I was cross pollinating petunias, trying to make new, hybrid strains of petunias.

[00:04:12] This is a big deal. And so the, sun that grew, that gave its light to my plants and the earth that nurtured them and every bit of those pieces came together in something that really reflected the way that I felt in my heart. And even as a small, 11 years old is not, that's, you're very, you're not even a baby yet.

[00:04:35] You're just a tiny little person. It was really important that I felt like somebody would listen to me. I was the middle child of five girls. So

[00:04:48] I had middle child syndrome big, like I, I would just felt like I disappeared

[00:04:53] every day in the shuffle of everything. So it felt like the fact that somebody would listen to me, that [00:05:00] somebody was caring about who I was.

[00:05:02] At that point, my, our parents, it wasn't that we, they wanted a strong religious upbringing for us. They just sent us to whoever, whatever church was close by because it was free babysitting.

[00:05:12] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:05:13] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: So they didn't care about denominations. They just care that we weren't underfoot. Like, give me some place to sleep on my hangover and just don't bother me.

[00:05:23] And so we went to church, but it was more like something to do to get out of the house, not actually a place to belong.

[00:05:29] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yeah.

[00:05:30] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Cunningham's words gave me a place to belong.

[00:05:36] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Interesting. Yes. I, Scott Cunningham's his book of like magical herbs. I've, I made the mistake one time of giving it to somebody and I never gave it back. But I obviously just bought another one eventually because I was like, I'm not getting this book back. It's fine. But it's so useful.

[00:05:57] And then he has the other book that I have is of the [00:06:00] incense the. Bruising, the book I'm

[00:06:02] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Incense oils and Bruce.

[00:06:04] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yes, that one. So I'm not a Wiccan, but I've used those books and his like formulas quite a bit. And the way he breaks everything down is so easy and like he gives you all the substitutes and like We were all better for having scott cunningham in the world.

[00:06:24] Thank

[00:06:24] you rest in power because everything is So put in the book and I just, it's such a resource for anybody, even if obviously you're super advanced when it comes to a horticulture and all. I'm not. I love herbs and all that kind of stuff, but I just use them basically, but yeah. It breaks everything down. So if anybody is in other, obviously, other than Amy's books, if anybody's interested in learning working with herbs and stuff, he's also another resource that's absolutely fantastic is Scott Cunningham's books are really good. Yeah, I think. I love how [00:07:00] you said that, it gave you a place to belong, like reading all through it. I feel that a lot of, and I know that, I don't think we say it anymore, but back in the day, I've mentioned this a few times on this podcast. I talked about like this was website belief net, which I think I just looked up the other day. That's still up.

[00:07:15] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Paid. It's a, not Patreon. It's Patheos now.

[00:07:19] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: okay. Yeah. So used to go on when I used to go on it, it was belief nets. Now it's pathos. Okay. They always like had the, like, what religion should you be or whatever.

[00:07:28] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: I remember that test.

[00:07:29] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yes, I used to take it constantly and I used to change my answers a little bit because I wanted to see what came up and okay, what's it going to be now? But I used to always love how they'd be like earth based religions and I'd be like most religions are earth based. Because we're on the

[00:07:44] earth,

[00:07:44] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: we're on earth.

[00:07:46] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: we literally all live here, we have no choice.

[00:07:49] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: It's amazing.

[00:07:51] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: to be earth based.

[00:07:53] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: it.

[00:07:55] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: like, so like every pagan path was like earth based, but I used to like it because like [00:08:00] when you really think about it, it's When you said it gives you a place to belong I thought of that to myself like a lot of these different spiritual paths It's because you are able to like you said first you said it's not just a sense of agency But that's such a big part of it, too It gives you're like, oh I can do something about my life.

[00:08:18] Like it's not just some Big person in the sky who's controlling everything or has half control. I don't know, but and obviously people have different approaches to mainstream religion that are, similar to being very in touch with their creator, I'm not saying everyone's like that, but the majority that you see, or the churches that you go to, it's all . Just don't fuck up because Sky Daddy is going to be pissed. It's like, okay, but what can I do to be better than just don't fuck up. And here are a couple of things that you shouldn't fuck up and you're like just this. Okay. You're like, Oh, just these things. And every religion has different things.

[00:08:58] And you're like, but [00:09:00] shouldn't I just decide for myself and be a decent person? They're like, these things are the important ones and

[00:09:05] everything else.

[00:09:06] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: You're like, don't be a dick. That doesn't sound hard.

[00:09:09] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Exactly. But when you like have this sense of oh, like I'm in this difficult situation and spiritually I can connect and talk to Sky Daddy, Earth Mama, whomever, all of them, none of them, whoever you believe in. I can maybe use things on the earth, things around me to help me change and maybe influence my situation. It's wow, I can really, I have more control in a little bit over my own destiny and that's cool. And when you, I feel like the secret is, the secret, everybody listen up. The secret that these big. Time religions know and how Karl Marx was like, Oh, religion's just trying to control everybody. I get that. Facts. But also the secret is when you have more agency, the more you believe. Like the [00:10:00] more, the more you're like, actually, this shit is probably true because I'm actually handling this shit pretty well for myself and I got a little help from whoever or whatever. But this is definitely true because I am, Working on it myself. So it's like, if everybody just had a little bit more of that freedom in these places, more people would be like, actually, this is probably, this is good for me.

[00:10:23] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: That's the thing. That's the other secret is they don't want you to believe they want you to adhere. They want you to listen and obey because that's that gives them more control over your life. It gives,

[00:10:33] it means you give them more money, more status, more appropriate controls that they feel that they desire.

[00:10:40] Like it's not about nurturing your belief. When people talk about, Oh, it's my job to witness to other people. Witnessing is not a job of conversion.

[00:10:52] It's not its goal. The goal of witnessing is to send those people out into the world and have them be rejected. [00:11:00] they come back to the church and say, You guys were right.

[00:11:04] Nobody else understands me, but you. That's the point of witnessing is nothing to do with conversion.

[00:11:13] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: that's so true. Yeah. I, it's so sad because it robs people of like true. Real experiences that they could have because

[00:11:24] instead of being yeah. Yeah joy. That's also like Instead of going out and having these spiritual experiences and being able to be like why this thing happened to me It's so cool and people being like, okay, that's cool It didn't happen for me like that or like that's your experience and that's cool. Just telling people like no, that's wrong Like, no, you shouldn't have done that. It's, it sucks. To have that

[00:11:47] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: It's a, it's the same feeling that we get when we say, Hey, I'm really feeling myself today. How about this picture? I look great. And someone goes that shirt not working for you. And you just feel crushed.

[00:11:59] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: [00:12:00] Yeah,

[00:12:01] it's so true. And it's sad, this is I hope I'm I hope I'm going to be able to get back to this point. So we'll try. I feel like when I was a kid, so as a lot of us people who end up on this spiritual AKA woo, hope that's not offensive to anybody, path. I feel that a lot of us had big imaginations when we were young, or we saw things and we were like, this could be true. Me, I believed in mermaids. I still do. I loved a mermaid, I loved a genie, I loved all that stuff, so I used to feel, and this is a weird thought, but I used to think, like, when you get older, you're just not allowed to believe in any of that anymore, and it used to make me super sad, I used to be like, I don't want to grow up for the pure fact that , oh, when I grow up, you can't believe In these things, you can't enjoy yourself like this anymore and it's not even just like religion that robs you.

[00:12:55] It's like society. I feel like sometimes robs you of that. It's [00:13:00] like you get older and you want to just you see magic in life and it could be in a million different ways. It doesn't necessarily just have to be 1 way, but people always want you to be like, no, but you have to do X, Y, and Z and do this. And now you're an adult and you have to be like this.

[00:13:16] And the thing is yeah, I'm an adult and I pay bills and that's fine. But yeah, I still believe in mermaids and it's fine. There's nothing wrong with doing any of that. You still believe in magic. That's fine. Obviously I do. So a lot of people do and it's great. If it makes you happy, then do it.

[00:13:33] That's what you should do. My rule of life, again, I will somehow get back to our point. Don't worry. My rule of life is if everybody's consenting and you're happy, then what's the problem? Let's just do it. Who cares? Everyone's cool with it. You're cool with it. Do it. Believe in it. If it makes you feel good.

[00:13:50] Didn't

[00:13:52] get

[00:13:52] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: tell you what, there is on Instagram, on TikTok and a couple different places, there's a black family that I met at FairyCon [00:14:00] who are mermaids. They have a husband and wife, have their own tails, go out, do events,

[00:14:07] Poolside they can do events, but they do videos out in the ocean with their tiny little babies.

[00:14:12] And now they're learning to swim just as like most kids learn to walk and

[00:14:16] it's the most beautiful thing ever in, in the history of ever. Like, let

[00:14:21] people like things.

[00:14:22] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Let people like things! That's honestly, just do it. Do the thing that you love. I'm slightly obsessed with mermaids. On Instagram. All of them. Everybody, if you are a mermaid and want me to follow you, Just, that's fine, follow me, I'll follow you, because I will follow you, not that anybody's in particular, I want that girl following, but if you do, I will, because I follow all the mermaid tail companies, because I just like looking at them, they just make me happy, I'm like, they're so pretty, and the, oh, it's very, it's just fun, it's just a good

[00:14:56] time, do

[00:14:58] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Even watching them being made is [00:15:00] just entrancing.

[00:15:02] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: fun! There's one I think it's the, I think it's FinFolk. There are two, I think they're sisters. Yeah. I like to watch them doing the spray painting. I feel relaxed. Like, I

[00:15:12] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yeah, it's like those cleaning videos on TikTok. It's just good to watch. I'll just sit and watch.

[00:15:18] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: My favorite is rug cleaning.

[00:15:21] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: I

[00:15:21] love those videos.

[00:15:22] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: The dirty

[00:15:23] or the

[00:15:23] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: so satisfying.

[00:15:24] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Oh my God. I can sit there. Like literally it will be the most rant. It's always like a Saturday morning. Like I've woken up a little late, like I don't have to do my other job. So I'm like, okay, I'm going to chill. I go onto Facebook and I go onto one of these rug cleaning and I just watched five minutes of someone shampooing a rug. Oh, the satisfaction when it comes out so clean and they show you the comparison. Stop. No.

[00:15:52] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: There's not harsh music. It's not a bunch of flashing lights. Just the hum of the machine and clean. And I didn't have to clean it.[00:16:00]

[00:16:00] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: I don't have to exactly I don't have to do it when they squeegee the rug. Oh, yes. Oh my god I love it. Just makes you feel so good and you're like, oh, it's so clean. This is so great All right, we went off topic and it's totally fine because that's what this is all about We

[00:16:17] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yes.

[00:16:19] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: go off topic here and we love it.

[00:16:21] We love a rant. Okay. So anyway now we're gonna go to our Dish of the week, which I had to change real quick because I cannot find the other dish, but it's fine. It goes with what we're about to talk about. So our dish of the week is a poultry seasoning for protection. Ha, okay. This is super easy everybody.

[00:16:42] This is just poultry seasoning literally that you can put together with a bunch of protective herbs and we're going to talk about protective herbs in a couple minutes. So like it so the seasoning goes from Two table, two teaspoons of dried sage, one and a half teaspoons of [00:17:00] dried thyme, one teaspoon of dried marjoram, three fourths teaspoon of dried rosemary, Shh, be quiet machine one half Teaspoon of ground nutmeg and a half teaspoon of brown black pepper So this is a nice little seasoning you can make you can put it on your chicken It'll taste real good and it will spiritually protect you while you're eating delicious chicken Yay, that's nice Okay

[00:17:29] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: I have one for you.

[00:17:31] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Do it i'm ready

[00:17:32] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Oh my gosh. It's a shawarma seasoning. So it's got, it's very warm. All the herbs in there are protective. This is the recipes given in parts so you can make as little or as much as you want. I usually fill a a little bottle jar and label

[00:17:47] it and put it in my thing, my spice cabinet. And. You can do it on just chickpeas. I do it on ground turkey all the time. A little, like a can of tomatoes. Beautiful. Put it over [00:18:00] rice or couscous. It is two parts turmeric, two parts cumin. I like the ground better cause it's got better aromatics,

[00:18:10] but the seed is fine. One part dried coriander, one part garlic powder.

[00:18:17] One part paprika, half a part of allspice, and half a part of black pepper. And it is warm, and sweet, and gorgeous, and I just I will put that on anything.

[00:18:28] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: It sounds delicious. I like it. Okay. All right. Everybody, you'll hear that. And actually, I will write it out and put it in the show notes also, so everybody can hear that can get that recipe if you like. That sounds delicious. Okay.

[00:18:42] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: It's so good!

[00:18:44] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: I know. Oh, all so now you got two recipes for the price of one.

[00:18:50] This podcast is free, but you still got two recipes for the price of one. So we're going to go to our tea time. So we're going to learn something today. And today we're [00:19:00] going to talk about a subject that's very close to my heart and something Amy obviously will know a lot about because it has to do with herbs and plants. Now I'm going to go on my rant really quick. I'm sorry, everybody. I'm getting on my soapbox. Okay. So we all know that people love to clear things with sage. The last thing though, I want to cure is that you can't find sage or that you're like, I don't know what to use. Listen, a couple of things. Number one, you can use any type of sage.

[00:19:28] You can use your regular ass sage in your house. Because what do we know here that everything is about what? Intention. Okay. Then, also, the other thing you can do is not use Sage. You can use something else. There's so many things to use and I feel that in the The problem is in the new age circles Everybody only uses sage and everybody only knows sage and it's just unnecessary.

[00:19:54] We can use so many other things And we're going to talk about them right now, and we're going to get [00:20:00] Amy's cosign on it so that we all know it's for real and it's not just me spouting shit, okay? So we're going to talk about it. Oh, the other thing we have to mention real quick, because we all know this now, but I want to make sure.

[00:20:11] Okay. Okay. So when we talk about clearing, we talk about clearing. We don't say smudging. That's a closed practice. It has nothing to do with you. It doesn't have anything to do with you. If you are of a group that does smudge, cool. That's your thing. It's no problem. But the rest of us are just clearing.

[00:20:27] That's what we're doing, right? Smudging is a specific ceremony done by a specific group of people and it's no problem, right? All right, cool. Yay. We got that down. Okay, everybody. So you want to clear your house. Also, let's really quick when you want to clear it's more about it's like I said before it's about intention to you don't just burn stuff and then just be like it's gone like you have to like do some visualization. Visualization at the least or just seeing things leave right is good. If you want to set up an altar, if that's your thing, if [00:21:00] you want to do a little ceremony around it, awesome. A ritual around it, awesome. But at least have that intention in your mind. A lot of things don't work well when you just expect the ingredients to do it. Now what I mean by that it's like you can have the best of the best and you could have ordered something from another country and you have this and you have that and everything so special and expensive and nice and you're like this is definitely going to work because I ordered the best of the best and we actually talked about this also in a previous episode. With our friend of the show Elohim who was talking about the same situation He was like you can order the best most expensive stuff But if you don't truly believe it's gonna work if you don't truly believe in what you're doing It's just not gonna work because that's how magic works. Like you gotta really be like, yeah, this shit's gonna work today This is gonna be the best and this is what you got to visualize what you want to happen [00:22:00] happening and like It's good.

[00:22:00] It's good

[00:22:01] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Gout is the killer of all magic.

[00:22:03] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: There we go 100%. If you really just don't, you're like, if you're, that's why we say even like when I started doing tarot, I would always tell people. You can read for yourself if you want. It's hard. I think people who are more advanced in it, it's easy, obviously. But at first, you don't want to read out of desperation because anytime you're desperate, shit's not going to work because your mind isn't right. You're not in the right headspace, for a lot of the time. So desperation, magic, desperation, reading, and, Divination, it usually comes out funky, because it's just not, you're not right. Anyway, with that being said, I'm going to tell you some stuff, and again, Amy, you can cosign on things if I'm saying something, or you have another thing to add to it, please let me know. Okay. So this is a little article I found, and I was like, read through it, and I was like, generally, I think this is pretty right. Okay one of my [00:23:00] favorite things for clearing, or decluttering, is cedar. Take care. And you can, it smells good, and you can find it anywhere,

[00:23:08] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: It's probably grown in your yard. Cedar grows in the oh, it grows so much, so many places. It's a really great grower.

[00:23:14] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: exactly, it's so easy most places I would think in the U. S. you can find it.

[00:23:19] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: People use it in landscaping a lot.

[00:23:22] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: yeah, it's, yeah, you probably have a bush somewhere within a one mile radius of wherever you live. There's a cedar bush, unless you live in a city or something, but even then, you probably can find a cedar

[00:23:31] bush.

[00:23:32] It's everywhere.

[00:23:33] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: or in front of a hotel in a heartbeat.

[00:23:35] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yes, it's everywhere. Those Little green leaves. You've seen cedar. You'll know what it looks like, but you can use that for burning and it smells good, too. It's great. Cedar wood is really good, too. If you are a knitter, or you or anybody who uses yarn and stuff, putting cedar wood around your wool will keep away moths from eating through your nice, beautiful wool sweaters. This herb, I [00:24:00] don't know too well, but you probably do Amy. Yerba Santa.

[00:24:04] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: yes!

[00:24:05] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Okay. Yerba Santa. It says here that it helps also for clearing, but also helping like heal broken hearts. It says so people dealing with love situations. Yeah. I don't know too much about that one, but I've

[00:24:20] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yerba Santa is lovely. It looks it looks like the the verbena family. When you're, when it's

[00:24:24] dry, you'll see curled pale green leaves.

[00:24:27] It's easy to find smokesticks of it in especially, I get them in Baltimore all the time at Crystal Candles and Cauldrons. Great shop.

[00:24:34] People are really lovely, but it's the leaves that are used more often that we're gonna, they want to make sure that there's enough to keep growing rather than harvesting the wood. Like cedar has the magic of clairvoyance and indivination, material gain of, especially of specific objects, you're like, oh, I need a new car, go with the Cedar.

[00:24:53] But the Yerba Santa is sanctifying, not just cleansing.

[00:24:58] It's going to leave the [00:25:00] space in a positive space rather than a blank slate.

[00:25:03] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Oh,

[00:25:03] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: you're using something like in the sage family, the salvias I really like salvia lucantha

[00:25:08] because it's it's called Mexican bush sage. It comes in really long, thin arrowhead leaves that are softer than lamb's ears.

[00:25:16] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Oh, wow.

[00:25:17] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: It's beautiful to grow. They have two foot long spikes of purple flowers that hummingbirds love. So it's a

[00:25:22] beautiful landscape plant. So you can grow it, dry your own materials, have them on hand. And it has a spicier fragrance to it than like a white sage, a salvia

[00:25:31] apiana. But it's got that really beautiful cleansing smoke to it, but that leaves it in a very blank slate.

[00:25:38] A vacuum, so you want to burn something to fill the space with good after you've used sage. We don't just leave a vacuum,

[00:25:44] but the herbicanto will leave that space in a positive light rather than just neutral.

[00:25:50] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yeah. And that's a really good point, too, that you make. I think everybody's so obsessed with clearing, but, you do want to bring in something warm, something depending on what you want [00:26:00] something to fill that space and energy. You're not saying you have to bring in furniture or anything, but, something to, fill. With what you want. There we go. If you want to fill it with some loving vibes, some self love vibes, some whatever kind of love you like, vibes, that's a good one to bring it in clear and then bring in that good energy. Cool.

[00:26:20] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Don't use jasmine though, when you burn it, it smells like cat pee.

[00:26:23] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: yeah, I don't like that. I tried that one time.

[00:26:25] I

[00:26:25] used to make some incense and like, I'd be like, I'm going to put jasmine because jasmine's cute. It is cute, but it smells bad.

[00:26:32] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: it smells like cappy when you burn it.

[00:26:34] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Exactly. The oil smells good, but the plant doesn't, so don't worry about that. Okay.

[00:26:40] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: diffuse the jasmine absolute. That'll work much better.

[00:26:43] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yeah, it's expensive. The real one.

[00:26:46] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: expensive. So expensive.

[00:26:48] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: very expensive. All right. My favorite, cause you can, I grow it in my backyard. Rosemary is great. Oh, it's cause it's, I like rosemary because it's it's very, to me, [00:27:00] like folk magic y. Rosemary grows everywhere. You can just use it anytime. In a pinch, sometimes I like to burn rosemary more than I like to burn.

[00:27:08] A sage or a Kopal because I don't always have sage or kopal and I gotta go get kopal from somewhere. So Rosemary in a pinch. I'm like, my girl, you're doing great.

[00:27:20] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: I don't have to wait for a pinch, like it's great all the time.

[00:27:23] I'll actually use, I'll use the rosemary sticks because Rosemary is a hardy wood.

[00:27:29] I'll I'll make a decoction instead of just boiling hot water. I'll actually put the sticks and the leaves and everything in the water and boil it as a syrup and add it to steamers or lattes and have a rosemary latte.

[00:27:41] Yes.

[00:27:42] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Ooh.

[00:27:42] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: And then I'll dry out the rosemary after it's been used and burn it for cleansing my space.

[00:27:48] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Ooh.

[00:27:49] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Because it's so it's nice because rosemary has this elevation of character

[00:27:54] and that magic is really specific It's hard to find in other plants Whereas it's not [00:28:00] just space, but it's not just uplifting your mood It's uplifting you as a person

[00:28:05] like increasing the quality of your character.

[00:28:08] That is really incredible

[00:28:11] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yes.

[00:28:11] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: for consecration, but it's not just cleansing. It's this You uplifting, there's a spiritual bent to it the purification that it has, but it also has a really strong grounded protection. So protection isn't just one thing, we know there's plants that burn away anything nasty before it can get to you, and there's plants that, that uplift the vibes, there's no way anything nasty can come in, but rosemary itself will ground anything nasty before it can get to you.

[00:28:42] So that way it can't even enter your space because the vibe is so awesome. So it's

[00:28:47] that strength that rosemary has, not a lot of plants have it, which is why there's, a controversy is too strong of a word. There's a kerfuffle in some circles because Cunningham [00:29:00] said, Oh, if you have anything wrong and you don't have anything, you don't have a certain herb, you can just replace it with rosemary.

[00:29:04] And so it feels dismissive of how amazing rosemary is. Like, I, when I do my notes for my books, I use recipe cards. I use index cards in a little recipe box. And I needed four index cards just for Rosemary. Because it does so many really incredible things. I think it does it a disservice to just use it as a blank insert on, it's the free space on a bingo card.

[00:29:31] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: not rosemary. But then it makes me think like

[00:29:34] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yes! Do

[00:29:35] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: the crystal quartz of herbs. People like, you don't have what you need, just get a quartz crystal and you'll be aight. Like, I'm like, oh, don't disrespect quartz crystals like that.

[00:29:49] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: you want to know some really neat things that Rosemary does? Yes!

[00:29:52] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yes.

[00:29:53] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Gives you confidence. It enables your courage. It balances your entire aura.

[00:29:59] It's great for [00:30:00] defensive magic, not just offensive magic. It's really there to support and uplift you when you're in times of trouble or crisis. It helps elevate your mind if you have either racing thoughts or obsessive thoughts, just looping your brain.

[00:30:14] That rosemary will help eliminate that, that recording loop that's going on your brain. Because it is it's an antidepressant.

[00:30:22] It's actually a really lovely antidepressant. It helps with beneficial dreams if you've got nightmares, if you've been having some issues getting to sleep or staying asleep, burning some rosemary before bed, like a half an hour.

[00:30:34] We want to make sure all of our materials are extinguished, no fire hazards.

[00:30:38] It's great for friendship and magic,

[00:30:41] Hexbreaking, it's heart lifting, there's nothing Rosemary can't do and

[00:30:46] it doesn't get enough credit.

[00:30:47] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: It doesn't. Growth, you can grow in the wintertime, even if you'll, in my, sometimes in my little garden area in my backyard, I'll go out there in the winter after I've abandoned it, right? [00:31:00] So everything's dead. Except rosemary. Nope. Still

[00:31:02] going. Yeah. Rosemary's like, I never die. And I'm like, okay, cool. Yeah.

[00:31:09] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: I'm in zone 7a,

[00:31:11] so I have to mulch it pretty good to make sure that it'll live through the winter. The last one I had got killed in a polar vortex. So I have to mulch it and keep it in a protected area, like up against the house. There's a little 90 degree angle between the front steps and the house where I can mulch it in real good.

[00:31:27] Alright. it's a pretty hardy bush, my goodness.

[00:31:31] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yes, it's pretty hearty. So we got that. Then we have next, you just mentioned I think you just mentioned like sleep. So we have Mugwort. Yes, Mugwort I like too because Mugwort also grows. Now, I'm a little nervous because I be cutting some Mugwort behind the library. Obviously not more than is there or just a little bit at a time. So it could grow back. But some days I'm like, is this mugwort? Because I'm not the best at plant [00:32:00] identification. It might just be weeds. It's fine. It seems to work. Like, I don't drink the tea or anything because I'm not sure what it is, but I'll burn it. But sometimes I'm like, should I chance it? And I'm like, nah, I don't want to poison myself.

[00:32:14] Okay.

[00:32:19] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: make a a meditation balm with it. That is I put it, I grab the, pull out the crockpot and I harvest big arm loads of it because it, I have a whole mugwort bed just along the side of the house. It's all mugwort.

[00:32:31] And so I'll cut a big bunch of it and make this the salve is a nice hearty base of mugwort and whatever oil is cheapest at that time.

[00:32:40] Usually a nice olive oil base.

[00:32:43] And I will let the fresh herb simmer in a crockpot for a couple days. I

[00:32:48] usually do this over the new moon. And it smells like swamp ass while it's going in the crock pot. So the batch that I just made is, I used oak [00:33:00] moss because it's really incredible hex breaker.

[00:33:03] And a little bit of lavender to uplift the variety of the scents and give it a middle note to hang out in because oak moss is a gorgeous base note. It's the lichen that grows on oak trees. Huh. But it's got flat leaves or it's just a big flat circle. You'll see on that the trees outside of the very pale green, but it smells like leather and violets.

[00:33:25] It's used in vegan perfumes as a leather substitute.

[00:33:29] It's gorgeous.

[00:33:31] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yeah, oak moss is one of those things that I made some perfumes and I used oak moss in one I made for Bridget and it was very, it's like very thick,

[00:33:42] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Oh yeah. It's an, the absolutes are very, you have to actually, I usually give them a little warm water bath

[00:33:48] to loosen them up for a couple of minutes before I try and work with it because it's so thick.

[00:33:52] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yeah, but it does smell really good. Like

[00:33:56] it's, yeah.

[00:33:57] it's really rich. Like it's very [00:34:00] cool.

[00:34:00] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Those of you listening if you are interested in checking out and working with mug with a oak moss, I get it from pipingrock. com. You can get a two ounce absolute. It's the actual real thick, My goodness, you need a spoon to scoop it out of the bottle, I swear. Absolute for about 30, which for an Absolute is dirt cheap.

[00:34:20] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: yeah. Okay. I will put that link also in the show notes. Everything's going to the show notes today. We also loving it. So yeah, mugwort is great. It's pretty, it's out there most of the time. You can usually find, it's like, it's. I think is a weed. A lot of the time people think it's a weed. Yeah, and it grows real tall, but it's great.

[00:34:42] And you can hang. I brought a whole bunch of it home. I just hang it up, dry it out and I burn it whenever I need to. But so it's great. I love my work. Then we got juniper for comfort. Juniper, I like the way Juniper smells when you burn it. But I [00:35:00] don't really find it that much. I had it once, and I think I bought it from somewhere.

[00:35:04] But I can't really find Juniper. Again, I'm not your plant identification girl. Don't come with me foraging, cause you might die. Hahaha!

[00:35:12] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Because you'll die.

[00:35:15] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: We'll go with

[00:35:15] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Juniper is so lovely.

[00:35:18] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: She'll help us out, don't go with me.

[00:35:20] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Juniper is so lovely. My best friend just named her baby daughter Juniper.

[00:35:25] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Oh,

[00:35:25] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: I love this plant. It's fantastic because it's Juniper protects from accidents.

[00:35:31] I'll anoint my new vehicles with juniper, and I'll have a little sprig of juniper in a talisman

[00:35:36] placed in my car when I get a new car.

[00:35:38] It protects specifically against ghosts. So if you're like no, not about, no, no ghosts in my house, please. Like, we can talk outside. Juniper will protect from ghosts. It's huge in protection. We're

[00:35:48] protecting from ghosts, harm, and evil. Protection from anger, protection from evil aura cleansing, banishing it transforms depression juniper is uplifting great for dreams, [00:36:00] fertility magic.

[00:36:00] Yes, thank you. If you are, if you work with alcoholic spirits, not the ghost kind it, you can actually cleanse your house with, by sprinkling gin around the property

[00:36:10] and making sure that those the particular banishing that it offers. Cause Gin is just flavored vodka,

[00:36:17] when you get down to it. So you can asperge with gin to cleanse your space, protect it from all the manner of nasty things.

[00:36:25] Because it's the magic of happiness and harmony. And it averts hexes. It's not just hex breaking. It makes sure that they can't land in the first place.

[00:36:33] Juniper is an amazing plant.

[00:36:35] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Juniper is doing great. Okay, loving it. Then we get to my favorite girlies. And I say girlies because there are a bunch of them. They could be men, they could be non binary. I don't know, but I'm just calling them girlies in this situation. A resin. I

[00:36:51] love a resin.

[00:36:51] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: The gender neutral girlies!

[00:36:53] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Oh, yeah. Yeah. gender neutral

[00:36:54] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: are my jam.

[00:36:56] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yes. I love a resin. Let me tell you. I am a frankincense [00:37:00] and myrrh kind of girl. Anytime, anywhere, ah, anything's happening. I'm like, get me some Jesus incense stat. We're going to clear this

[00:37:14] bitch out.

[00:37:18] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Can I tell you my frankincense story?

[00:37:19] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: yes, please.

[00:37:22] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: This is my favorite. So I worked at a shop called Mystical Voyage. It was the largest shop in Baltimore when it closed in November of 2010. Huge, like 5, 000 square feet. It's

[00:37:33] giant.

[00:37:34] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yeah.

[00:37:40] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: studio, like it was just boop, giant.

[00:37:43] In the holistic healthcare center there were rooms where I read tarot, so I rented out a room and I read tarot there all the time. I'm there reading a particular night, I didn't have any clients at that moment, so I'm wandering around the gift shop, it was the first week in January. [00:38:00] I'm wandering about.

[00:38:00] It's dark and cloudy and windy as hell outside. You're waiting for the four horsemen of the apocalypse to come riding by. It was windy. There was lightning, but it wasn't raining. It There was some atmosphere. I'm in the I'm in the gift shop, and this car comes in, screeching up to the front door, you're waiting to see somebody, Skidding on three tires.

[00:38:21] He jumps out of the car, he comes running up to the FLINGS it open. There's wind chimes on the door. I think they're gonna go flying too. He comes His hair's all disheveled because the wind is ridiculous outside. Wild Big giant wild eyes. He says, Where is your frankincense oil? My guy, it's right here you go, frankincense and myrrh, if you like, this one has frankincense, myrrh, and mugwort in it, it's beautiful they're great, if you, since you like frankincense, I also have it by the pound.

[00:38:50] Frankincense and myrrh over here by the pound. Here's some rolls. This is our resin table. He's like you have frankincense and myrrh. Yes, we have it's ready. It's like take it's fine [00:39:00] Like obviously having some sort of emergency that's frankincense based So his hair is disheveled. His eyes are wild.

[00:39:08] I get him over to pay at the counter And like, are you okay? Can we call someone for you? Is there a problem? It turns out that this poor young man is one of the younger ministers, one of the students at the local Catholic church, they ran out of frankincense and myrrh at the midnight mass for Christmas,

[00:39:32] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Oh,

[00:39:32] no.

[00:39:33] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: it from the company and there.

[00:39:36] Their epiphany mass was starting in five minutes, and he's like, THE WITCHES WILL KNOW! So he ran to the witches to get breakfast and murder.

[00:39:46] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: He was a smart ass minister. He said, the witches

[00:39:49] have it all. Let me

[00:39:52] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: So he came to ask the witches, That guy came back for years for our coffee clatch on Sunday mornings after he was done doing [00:40:00] his mass thing. He would come and hang out with us.

[00:40:02] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: That's awesome.

[00:40:04] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yeah. Laughter.

[00:40:06] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: I want to say,

[00:40:07] if there ever was a frankincense

[00:40:09] emergency, that is a frankincense based emergency.

[00:40:13] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: emergency.

[00:40:16] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Not an epiphany without some frankincense ever. That's crazy. What kind of mess is that? It's not a real one. Better get

[00:40:26] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Not real ass.

[00:40:28] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: No, it's fake. Like, no. Oh, that is so funny. I love that. Resins are great. Don't forget your charcoal or else you'll ruin any surface you put it

[00:40:41] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Somebody's epiphany.

[00:40:43] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yeah exactly. You'll need a fire a fire safe container. But if you use a resin, just make sure you look up. Like that you're using the right stuff. Cause I've seen people use like little bowls, like skinny, regular bowls and like [00:41:00] almost burn themselves. Cause they just put the charcoal in the bowl instead of putting like some sand or some salt in it. Like you gotta be

[00:41:07] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Oh, pumpkin.

[00:41:10] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: careful, everybody. Don't hurt yourself. Or just get a little cute incense burner. Like, it'll be fine, guys. It's fine. It's the best. I love frankincense and myrrh. Also love some dragon's blood. It's

[00:41:21] expensive.

[00:41:22] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: the pound.

[00:41:23] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yeah, it's not cheap, but if you can get a little bit it's great and I like I mentioned before I love copal and i'm obsessed with copal when I was doing my training my shamanic training, we used a lot of copal and I love the smell of it so copal is great. But yeah, if you just

[00:41:42] got

[00:41:42] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: be happy to

[00:41:44] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: go ahead

[00:41:46] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: know that it grows on 6 continents. So if you're concerned about appropriation, it is absolutely everywhere on the planet. Like there's some that grows in the United States, so it, you can [00:42:00] find it in your, on your continent, if not in your biome

[00:42:03] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Oh, I didn't realize it grew everywhere like that. That's great

[00:42:07] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Oh yeah.

[00:42:08] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Oh good. I feel better. Thank you.

[00:42:10] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yes.

[00:42:11] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Good. All right, so it's Popular and it's easy. So then we also have on the list and We also have palo santo, which I don't Use any more because I know there's been a lot of deforestation in especially Brazil.

[00:42:27] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: illegal to deforest for pato. Legally you can only harvest what's on the ground.

[00:42:34] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Got it. Okay.

[00:42:34] Okay. Okay.

[00:42:37] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: as insect repellent, like burning. It is it's not just, oh my God. It's amazing because it's a plant. We know I'm the plant person. It's used as an insect repellent. You can buy it in a lot of different places just to burn it to keep mosquitoes away.

[00:42:50] So there's a lot of yeah, actually there's been a lot of concern over burning it as a plant. And I don't want to make, I don't want to take away from this plant from [00:43:00] the power of this by overharvesting. It's illegal to, to take it if it's not falling on its own on the ground.

[00:43:07] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Okay. Oh, that's good to know.

[00:43:10] Thank you. yeah.

[00:43:12] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: sure. They had that problem. They actually saw that happening in places like India with sandalwood. And they're like, we're nipping it in the bud.

[00:43:20] It's illegal to harvest sandalwood. And so people were poaching it with dynamite, taking it out of the country, processing it into the country and then selling it illegally.

[00:43:30] And so we have places like Australia who are like, Hey, okay. Why not grow this really fantastic Australian sandalwood St. Albans Vicatum has a little spicy note to it. The, just one farm in Australia that grows sand, this Australian sandalwood is three times the cut, the size of the country of France.

[00:43:51] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yeah.

[00:43:52] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: France.

[00:43:53] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Wow.

[00:43:55] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: just one farm.

[00:43:56] Australia is really great with their conservation efforts. If you [00:44:00] harvest a tree, you have to plant three of them by law. Think of your

[00:44:05] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Wow. I love that. Okay. Yes. And actually we were going to talk about sandalwood too. Sandalwood sandalwood's great. I like the way sandalwood smells. Now we know some facts about sandalwood. Some Australian sandalwood. Yes. Loving it. So now you can get it from Australia. I think I have Australian sandalwood and I really love the way it smells.

[00:44:27] It smells so nice. Yeah, it's

[00:44:30] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: traditional white sandalwood with just a hint of spice in the back of your nose, like, like a clove or a cinnamon in the back of your nose.

[00:44:37] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yes. Okay. This is a random comment but I have to say because like you love plants and we had Mauricio a friend of the podcast earlier who does perfume I love how people who love plants and scents talk about them. Like it just makes me happy Like it's just like listening to the way you speak [00:45:00] about it Like and you just talk about it in such like It's almost like a romantic way that people who love

[00:45:06] plants talk about plants.

[00:45:07] Oh, it makes me it just warms my heart. Okay.

[00:45:15] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: a magical guide to aromatherapy. And it became, it evolved into a guide to magical perfumery because of my love of perfume. I keep my perfume collection in my bedroom and I have over 500 perfumes. Yeah, my, my desk is set up as a perfumer's organ so I can reach over and grab any oil that I need.

[00:45:36] It's right here at my fingertips.

[00:45:38] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Oh, that's

[00:45:39] cool.

[00:45:40] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: The perfumer's apprentice has some really great materials. I buy pipettes by the trillions because I use them so often. Perfume is such an incredible thing. One of the things I mentioned in Botanic, Blackberry's Botanical Magic is a company called Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab.

[00:45:56] a perfumer. They were originally in Hollywood. They're now located in [00:46:00] Philadelphia and probably 450 of the perfumes that I have are theirs. They're a small, they're an indie perfume house that is owned by witches. They they release a perfume for the full, for every full moon. They have a different perfume.

[00:46:14] They have perfumes for eclipses. They have perfumes for sabbats. They have perfumes for they have fully licensed, not, we're not stealing from artists and authors, fully licensed Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman really incredible perfumes. There's Coraline perfumes. There's Oh, what is the, what is that movie?

[00:46:31] Only lovers left alive. They have American gods perfumes. They have really incredible collections. They have materials that a hundred percent of the proceeds go to different charitable contributions. So

[00:46:45] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Oh, wow.

[00:46:46] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: This perfume supports this perfume supports this. So say you didn't want to support a dog rescue,

[00:46:55] you wouldn't buy that perfume and then you can give your money to cats.

[00:46:57] They would [00:47:00] never do that, but

[00:47:01] you get what I'm saying. but yeah they're Elizabeth Burial is the nose behind Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. And she is incredible. I have probably 12 of her perfumes sitting right here on my desk. And I just happened to grab Gingerbread Oud.

[00:47:17] And it's it is exactly what it says.

[00:47:19] It is a gingerbread perfume that is really oud heavy.

[00:47:23] Oh my god! Ah! If you haven't experienced oud, it is a tree that is sacred to indigenous tribes in Australia and New Zealand. It is sacred drums are made from oud, so the rituals of these specific practices have that warm, earthy, sweet, woody smell because all of their drums are made from oud.

[00:47:47] It's just a really incredible material that's available. It's not endangered. It's not threatened. It's there's no ethical concerns with working with Ood itself, but it's it's also called Agarwood or Agar and

[00:47:59] in Cunningham's [00:48:00] books, you'll see it referred to as such. But she's inspired by poetry and art and music and literature.

[00:48:08] And you can go on their website. You can search for a feeling, a sense, a color.

[00:48:14] A word, a poem, and find all of the perfumes that contain that note. So if you want to smell like blood, there's probably 12 perfumes you could find on their website that they use a really thick syrupy cherry as their blood note.

[00:48:31] And it's incredibly soothing for me. Like, it's just

[00:48:35] really, there's Kyoto and Kabuki are two of the cherry notes that I really like.

[00:48:40] Kabuki is cherries and white musk, and Kyoto is cherries and red musk.

[00:48:44] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Okay.

[00:48:45] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: So you can,

[00:48:47] please, if you like perfume, go and look at Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. you'll get a 5ml bottle of perfume for probably around 25 or 30.

[00:48:58] And I, [00:49:00] there's a million applications in them. Each bottle, you only need a drop and it'll wear all day because it's an oil based perfume instead of an alcohol. a nice, reasonable throw. And it's, if you find something, you're like, oh, I don't, I can't smell it, so how do I know? There's a huge cult following for the perfume company, and if you don't like it, you can sell it in any number of groups.

[00:49:20] People trade them, people sell them. There's, can, you're never stuck with a perfume.

[00:49:27] If you're like, ah, this isn't really my jam. People will buy it, people will use it, people will love it. And they send free perfume samples with every order.

[00:49:36] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: another link, everybody. Another link in the show notes. You better read these show notes, everyone. You better read them. Okay.

[00:49:45] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: She's going to be typing all night. You better read it.

[00:49:48] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: I have a lot to type up and you better read it. You better enjoy it. You better enjoy yourself. Okay, when you can get paid every two weeks. You can spare 25. Try it out. You want to smell like some gingerbread or maybe some [00:50:00] blood? You'll like it. I believe Amy. She's trustworthy. She's no problem. So yeah, we've enjoyed her so far. I believe her. So those are some of the things that we can use to clear that we talked about. Now we got into perfume, which I'm like, so I'm like listening to you talk once again about perfume and I'm like, I could listen to you just talk about this all day. Honestly, it's just

[00:50:28] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: I've started just reviewing perfumes on my TikTok just because I, I love talking about it so much. So if you're like, Oh, I need some happy brain chemicals, I'm going to listen to Amy talking about perfume. I will, you can, there's like a million videos on, on, on TikTok of me just

[00:50:42] talking about perfume.

[00:50:43] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Awesome, another thing for me to look at on TikTok for hours. I'm excited. What I need. I love it. Oh, okay. Oh, I love it. Literally, as soon as we're done, I'm going to follow you on TikTok. Cause I was like, yes. [00:51:00] Okay, so we have come to our story time. Like I said, we're gonna tell a classic story today because sometimes we don't be telling classic stories and I think we all just need a little refresher. Today we're going to talk about Jack and the Beanstalk because we're talking about plants and I was like, let's talk about Jack. You all remember Jack, right? Okay. So the story goes like this, Jack comes from a pretty poor family, right? He doesn't, his family doesn't have a lot of money. They have a farm and, farming is hard. Especially when you're farming and you have no money and you don't have a lot of animals. It's rough out here. So Jack's mom was like, Jack, we have a cow and I need you to go to the market and sell the cow because we don't have any money. And Jack was like, okay, no problem. So he goes to the market and now I'm taking a little license with this story.

[00:51:49] I'm going to add a little spice to it. So he sees a shady character. Okay, Jack is like, Ah, hello, sir. And he's trying to be polite to this [00:52:00] guy. And the guy is like, Hey, what's up? And the guy is like, Hey, that's a nice looking cow. And he's like, Yeah, I got to sell this cow because me and my mom, we need to get some food. And the guy's like, I know what you could do better than selling the cow for food. You could just sell the cow to me and I'll give you three beans. And Jack was like, that sounds ridiculous. And the guy's like, but these are magic beans. And Jack was like, again, that sounds ridiculous. The guy was like, Come on, if you bag these beans, like, you'll never regret it. And Jack really thinks to himself, How pissed is my mom about to be? And he knows she's gonna be mad. But then he's like, But what if these beans are really magic? Because like we talked about before, Jack has a big imagination, And he likes what he likes. And he likes magic. So he's like, this could be the greatest adventure I've ever taken. So he takes the beans. Now he goes home and his mom is pissed. She's like, what happened? He's like, [00:53:00] I went to the, I went to

[00:53:02] the market.

[00:53:03] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: do what?

[00:53:04] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: She said, part, wait, she's like, where's the milk and bread? He's like, I got something better, mom. Three lima beans. Like, what the fuck is that? He proceeds to tell his mother they're magic beans. Don't worry. You're going to see his mom goes to bed. She's in tears. Cause she's like, we're going to starve to death. Jack, my son has put his mark on my deck. Like she's upset. Okay. So she's gone to bed. Jack is like, it's fine. So he goes outside and he's upset, but he's like, it's going to be fine. He's like, let me just bury these beans in the garden. I don't even want to think about them no more. I'm so upset now. My mom's upset. Maybe I made a mistake. I'm just going to put these beans out here. Nothing's gonna happen because I'm an idiot. I'm gonna go to bed. Okay, next morning Jack wakes up. There's a big ass beanstalk [00:54:00] He doesn't know how this happened overnight. This beanstalk is huge. He's like, oh my god. It looks like a tree He can't believe this thing is so big. It's so tall it goes into the clouds And he's like, Oh shit. That's crazy. So what does he do?

[00:54:16] You'd probably climb it, right? I wouldn't because I get out of breath quick, but like, I probably wouldn't climb it because my delicate lungs, but Jack, he's a hardy boy and he works on a farm. He's fit. So he's like, I'm going to climb this beanstalk. No problem. So he climbs climbs. He gets up there. There's a castle in the sky. The fuck? I don't know, but there's a castle in the sky. Don't worry about it. He gets into the castle and he sees a giantess, a giant lady, and in the kitchen, and he's like, excuse me, giantess I am so hungry. And the giantess is like, okay. Why is there a small boy in my kitchen?

[00:54:55] I don't know, but you're hungry. No problem. The giantess, she's a nice person. [00:55:00] So she gives him some bread and some milk and he sits at this giant ass table. He probably can't even reach up there. He's so damn small compared to the giantess. But he starts eating and he's thanking her for the food. Then all of a sudden they hear, that's the door's opening, and now the giant man is coming, and this is the giantess's husband. Oh no, he's a jerk. So he starts saying, Fee, fie, foe, fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman. Jack's English by the way. He be alive or he be dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bribe. Now, if someone says this about you, you're going to do what? Run away because you don't want your bones ground up. So Jack was like, Oh shit. So he gets down from the table. He's books it right. He books it to a corner where they can't Jack small compared to these people. So they, they can't see him.

[00:55:56] And the giant guy is saying to his giant wife. [00:56:00] Where's the English dude? And she's like, I don't know what English dude you're talking about. I never heard of an English dude. It's just me and you up in this castle in the sky. I don't know what you're talking about. So he's like, fine, I'm going to eat my dinner.

[00:56:14] I'm going to take a nap because I had a rough day out at the office. And she's like, fine. So he goes, he eats his dinner and then By the way, everybody, I'm so sorry. My neighbor's dog will not stop barking. So if you hear that in the background, I apologize. Anyway, he goes, eats his dinner and he goes to sleep. Now, while Jack was hiding, he saw this big sack of gold coins. He's looking at the sack. He's like, I think I could carry this sack on my back. So he realizes he waits for the giant and his wife to go to bed. He gets a sack on his back, and he walks out the door of the castle, goes down the beanstalk, and goes home. Now, of course, he gets into the door, and his mom is like, Actually, Jack, where have you been? You've been gone for hours. And Jack's [00:57:00] like, Does it matter? I've got a bag of gold. And his mom's like, I guess not. Like, thank God you're here, and you have all this gold. Cause I thought we were gonna die today. They have gold. Things go well. His mom's like, great, we can buy groceries now, cause we're impoverished, and this sucks, so now we can buy groceries, and we're okay. So they live a little better, and things are going well for Jack and his mom. Now, Jack, the beanstalks didn't go anywhere, the beanstalk's still there. So after a couple months, Jack is like, that gold, it's good, but I feel like there's more stuff up there. I'mma climb back up that beanstalk to see what's going on. Going on. So he climbs back up. And of course he meets once again Mrs. Giant and he says, Oh, Mrs. Giant, how you doing? I'm so hungry once again. And Mrs. Giant was like, Oh, it's you again, small English man. Okay, here we go. I don't know why you keep coming to my house unannounced, but fine. I want to be a good

[00:57:57] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Don't ring the doorbell, nothing.

[00:57:58] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: And nothing. Jack just [00:58:00] walks in. She's like, okay, here you are.

[00:58:04] She's a good host though. Yeah, she's always a good host. She always offers food and drink.

[00:58:09] So she gets him, this time she gets him a Coca Cola and a fruit roll up. Let's just say that to spice up the story. So he's eating his fruit roll up and a Coca Cola. And all of a sudden, once again, we hear And that is the door. Here comes Mr. Giant. Jack leaps off the table. He goes back to a corner. Like he did before actually this time he runs to the corner.

[00:58:33] He says they're gonna find me in here Let me go under the bed. So he runs under the bed and here we hear. Mr. Giant go fee fie foe fum I smell the blood of an Englishman be he alive or be he dead I'll grind his bones to make my bread and the wife is like here you go again screaming about Englishmen First of all, why you racist against English people?

[00:58:55] What's the problem? I don't know why you're being a rude person like that. [00:59:00] And number two, there's nobody in here except me and you. We live in the sky. And he's like, ugh, fine, whatever. I'm gonna eat my dinner and I'm gonna sleep. I'm having a rough day. She's like, once again, you're in a bad mood. That's fine. Eats his dinner. They go to bed. And then Jack's just laying there waiting for them to fall asleep. And under the bed, he's like, why is there a hen under here? So he sees there's a hen. And he's like, that's cool. He lifts up the hen and she's got a bunch of gold eggs under her. And he's like, damn, everything out here made of gold.

[00:59:32] That's crazy. So he's like, I'm gonna take this hen. I can carry this hen on my back. Jack takes the hen, he climbs back down the beanstalk. The next day, once again, his mom's like, I was once again worried about you. Where did you go? He's like, don't worry about it. Once again, though, I have some gold.

[00:59:47] And this time, it's multiplying, because it's a hen. And she's like, oh, this is great. So now, they have an income, which is this hen. This is great. For some time, they're living great. Everything's well. [01:00:00] Going well. So now once again Jack is like, I feel like there's more up there in the Giants castle I could have Third time.

[01:00:08] Now, he's really trying his luck again. So once again, Jack goes back up the beanstalk. Once again, he ran runs up in this lady's house, unannounced. And once again, she's a good host, and she gives him this time, let's say, she just baked, like, roasted some chicken. She made some rosemary butter potatoes. So she gave them to him this time.

[01:00:30] . Because we love rosemary as you guys heard before. So Jack's eating his meal. He's she can cook. Let's say this lady can cook. So he's really enjoying it. Some gravy on it. It's nice. Then all of a sudden, here we go. Now, here comes Mr. Giant. Fee, fie, foe, fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman. Be he alive or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread. [01:01:00] And once again, his wife is like, There's nobody in here and I'm actually getting really tired of this. You really need to stop with your foolishness.

[01:01:07] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: And the guy was like, Oh, fine. Once again, you're gaslighting me, but it's fine. I'll just believe it. So

[01:01:15] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: like,

[01:01:16] are you sure?

[01:01:18] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: he knows she's lying, but he doesn't want to fight. So the giant's like, fine, once again, I'm going to eat and go to bed. So now the giant. And this time wherever Jack hid, he found a harp and the harp was playing beautiful music, just playing go on its own. And Jack was like, this is so cool. I bet that like I could make a lot of money with this harp or like I could just entertain my mom. She really loved this beautiful music. So Jack's like, I'm gonna take this harp. So he takes the harp on his back. Here he goes. And all of a sudden the harp, which is magical. yells [01:02:00] out, help me master, a boy is stealing me. And the giant woke up and he's like, what? So then he

[01:02:06] looked, snitches get stitches, Harp. You should have known that. Cause now we got problems.

[01:02:12] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: right, somebody don't tell that harp.

[01:02:15] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Nobody likes a tattletale. So the giant then woke up and saw Jack holding the harp. And he's like, there's this damn Englishman I've been looking for. That's him. So Jack's like, Oh shit. And he starts to run. He runs to the beanstalk. The giant is grabbed an axe at this point. He's, Jack is terrified.

[01:02:36] Oh my god. So he's running. Jack is fast though. And he gets all the way to the bottom. Of the beanstalk to his house and he gets an axe himself. He goes into the house gets he lives on a farm He's got an axe. Don't worry gets an axe He starts chopping at the beanstalk chopping at the beanstalk And he chops so hard because like I said jack is [01:03:00] in he's in shape he does it so hard that the beanstalk falls down And the giant falls off it and the giant dies You Now, the only part of this story that I feel bad for is Giant's wife.

[01:03:12] Is she by herself up there now? That sucks. Yeah, but her husband was an asshole. So maybe she's happy.

[01:03:20] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yeah,

[01:03:21] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yeah, he's always talking

[01:03:23] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: she's like, I don't have to pull up out of the foolishness. I don't have to pick up after him. I don't have to wash his dishes and his dirty underwear. No, thank you.

[01:03:29] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yeah, she's probably like just hang out with her friends now, like all day. She's just like she joined a book club and like she got to do all the things she wanted that her husband like that's stupid, but she's like, no, I love doing this shit. So she makes inner

[01:03:42] spirit time.

[01:03:43] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: and talk to her book club.

[01:03:44] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yes, in her spare time, she does those like, 5, 000 piece puzzles that her husband wouldn't let her lay out in the living room because he's like, he takes up too much space.

[01:03:53] She's having the time of her life. So actually, it's fine. She's fine. The, but Mr. Giant fell and died. So Jack now [01:04:00] had the harp, he had the golden eggs, and he still had some gold laid around. And sorry, Jack and his mom, they were now very rich, and they lived great, and they lived happily ever after. Yay for a classic. Oh, so

[01:04:20] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Services, Inc.

[01:04:23] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: that was my, always my question about this story, was where did the giant land? Because he's a giant, and the beanstalk must have caused tons of destruction in this town. Like, this shit got landed on. But, they don't tell you. Maybe,

[01:04:41] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: they have, because they have a farm and they're a little ways outside of town, like, he probably landed on some crops. But they could have eaten, they could have sold for some money.

[01:04:52] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: maybe it was maybe Jack did it in a way that like loggers do. Like how they strategically, Cut on one [01:05:00] side of the tree so they know how it's gonna land.

[01:05:03] Maybe that's what he did Yeah, maybe he determined that okay jack. I hope you didn't destroy anybody's property or your own? Anyway, I love how that's what i'm

[01:05:13] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yes. Even little monster.

[01:05:15] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yeah Hope everything worked out for you, Jack. Okay that's our story, everybody. And at the end of the story, that means that our show has now come to the end. Amy, we have loved having you on. I say we as everybody listening because I feel like they also loved it. Can you tell us where we can find you on the internet if people want to follow your lovely TikTok or go to Blackthorns Botanicals to see what you're making?

[01:05:42] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yes. So if you want to check out Blackthorn's Botanicals, it's blackthorns, plural, botanicals. com. You can check out the first 30 pages of all five of my current books at amyblackthorn. com. You can download the first 30 pages for free. I want you to know that's the voice that you want in your head.

[01:05:59] [01:06:00] Like, you want to learn about magical self defense, physical self defense, you want to make sure that, you feel safe and comfortable walking home at night, like, Blackthorn's Protection Magic is yours. Go look at the first 30 pages and see if that's what you want.

[01:06:12] If you want to follow me on TikTok, I am amy underscore blackthorn underscore author.

[01:06:18] If you're on Instagram, it's all smooched into one word, amyblackthornauthor. I am super excited to see all of your faces in the end of August because I have two books coming out. One on August 20th and one on September 1st. August 20th is Social Media Spells, 366 ways to get witchy on the web.

[01:06:39] So it's a year 366 individual spells for all sorts of really creative ideals that are appropriate for social media magic.

[01:06:49] We talk about everything from protection to cleansing, hunting for a new job, what's appropriate in the workplace. There's a wide range of topics

[01:06:59] [01:07:00] and it's great especially if you have a business because it gives you content ideas for making sure that your platform stays relevant.

[01:07:06] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yeah.

[01:07:08] amy-blackthorn--she-they-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Then, on September 1st, Sacred Plant Magic comes out from Wiser, and I'm super excited because that's the sequel to Blackthorn's Botanical Magic.

[01:07:16] So it's developing a deeper relationship with plants as entitled and empowered beings with agency. I want to develop relationships with peppermint, or jasmine, or any of these other really amazing and incredible plants. It gives you the agency and understanding of how to approach these beings as empowered.

[01:07:38] beings who can carry on a conversation with you and see what you guys have to learn together. It's really incredible to talk about different ways to look at these plants and develop relationships with them.

[01:07:51] And so I'm very excited to see how people are going to react to that.

[01:07:58] ashley---she-her-_1_04-08-2024_180409: Yes. And of [01:08:00] course, like I said, throughout the whole show, there will be links Okay. In the show notes. Like you can find all Amy's previous books and I'm gonna put links to the books coming out. If they're links for like pre-order and stuff like that, I'll put all those things in the show notes so you can go and check those out. So you can make sure you get it as soon as it comes out because it sounds like it's going to be pretty good. Both of those books especially social media where I'm so super interested in that. Sounds awesome. Very different. So I'm going to put everything, all of Amy's information will be right there so you can look everything up including all the other fun stuff that we talked about during this episode because this was a good ass time.

[01:08:40] And if you if you don't know what you're listening to, this is Dying With a Demand so you can find us on Instagram. Instagram Facebook, Tik Tok, sometimes when I update it, cause I'm terrible lately. Cause yeah, it's a lot going on, but don't worry about it. If you enjoy the show, please pause and give us a great five star [01:09:00] rating on Apple podcast whatever platform that you like.

[01:09:03] You can even go on the dime with a divine website and give us a rating there. If you like, we have merch, you can check that out. If you have any suggestions for episodes or questions or comments or constructive critiques or anything at all, feel free to email me at dinewithdivinepod at gmail. com. And if you want to follow me, Ashley, I'm at SankofaHS. That's S A N K O F A H S and Sankofa Healing Sanctuary on Facebook. at Sankova HS's all the other platforms on there. So thank you so much everybody for joining us for another week. We'll see all of you next week for another great show and until then, goodbye!

[01:09:46] ​