Ritual Soap

[Rayven Nightmoon]

This is going to be a direct excerpt from the book The Complete Book of Incense, Oils & Brews, Scott Cunningham ISBN: 13:978-0-87542-128-5

By the light of candle’s flame, you’re lying in a tub of the herb-sented water, preparing yourself for magic. Incense smoke drifts on the air as you form a perfect mental image of your magical goal. Steam rises, laden with the fragrance and energies of flower, seeds, roots and leaves.

Then, nearing the end of your bath, you reach for the soap — and it’s sickly sweet, artificially perfumed, Your concentration is destroyed, pulling your attention from your ritual preparations.

Has this happened to you? It has to me. Although soaping isn’t necessary in magical baths, a ritually correct soapo can be a boost to any spell’s effectiveness. Even if you don’t bathe before ritual, it is wise to wash your hands. Even such a minor purification ritual can trigger a stat of ritual consciousness. Therefore, spell soaps be ideal for such uses.

Where can we obtain them? Don’t try the supermarket. Make them at home. Not many people know how to do this today, but it’s a lot of fun.

Most commercial soaps are formulated with caustic chemicals. They can be quite irritating to the skin, and are usually obnoxiously perfumed. Ritual soaps (of varying quality) are occasionally available at occult stores, by why not try making your own?

Don’t worry — you won’t have to get a fire crackling under you cauldron out in ithe countryside to do this. And unless you want to upset your neighbors with nasty smells and risk burning your hands with lye, it’s best to start with pure, natural Castile soaps. These can be purchased at most drugstores and markets. Oils or herb brews are then added to the soap. The magic is in the scent and in your empowerment of the soaps.

Pure castile soap is usually made of coconut oil. Kirk’s , a coconut castile made in the Philippines, is ideal. Castile soap (named after Castile, spain) is also made from olive oil, but I haven’t had good results using this variety.

Any castile soap can be drying to the skin. If you have problems in this areal, try adding one or two teaspoons of apricot, almond or coconut oil to the water prior to mixing reducing the amount of water accordingly.

There are two types of ritual soaps: sphere and liquid. Here are complete directions for both forms.

Over the next couple of days I will be posting the recipes for sphere and liquid soaps.

[Rayven Nightmoon]

This is going to be a direct excerpt from the book The Complete Book of Incense, Oils & Brews, Scott Cunningham ISBN: 13:978-0-87542-128-5

Ritual Soap Spheres

Using a very sharp, thick-bladed knife, cut a four-ounce bar of castile soap into very small pieces no larger than 1/4 inch square– the smaller (so long as they’re cubes” the better. Place these in a heat proof nonmetallic container.

Heat slightly less than 1/3 cup of water until nearly boiling. Pour the still hot water over the cut-up soap. Let it sit until the water has cooled sufficiently to allow you to handle it. Mix the soap and water with your hands. This will moisten the soap chips, but they shouldn’t be floating on the surface of the water. If they are, add more water. If they are, add more soap.

Let the soap and water sit for about nine minutes until mushy. If the soap cubes are still hard, set the bowl in a pan of water and reheat it gently until the soap is soft.

While the soap is melting, mix together the oils and empower them with your magical need. Then add 20-50 drops of the combine oils to the soap/water mixture. Very warm water evaporates the oils, so wait until the water has cooled. Mix them in thoroughly. The scent should be strong; if not, add more oils.

The quality and strength of the oils you use determines the quantity needed to over power the natural, rather antiseptic scent of genuine castile soap. Just add them until you can smell the oils.

Divide the scented soap mass into three or four parts. Form these into spheres with your hands. Place on a nin-inch-square piece of cotton cheese cloth. Pull the ends tightly around the sphere, gather them at the top ad twist together. The cloth shoul be tightly wrapped around the soap sphere. Tie the ends closed with strong string. Repeat with each sphere.

Hang the soap spheres in a warm place for three days, or until soap is completely hard. Where the spheres won’t give to finger pressure, remove the cloth wraps. The soaps are ready to use in ritual baths. Or, they can be wrapped in clean cheesecloth, labelled, and given as gifts to friends who would appreciate them.

Liquid Ritual Soap 1

Liquid soaps are a new trend today, thanks to the aggressive advertising by major manufactures. These soaps, however, are actually detergents, and aren’t the best substances to put onto your hands.

While ad agencies trupet liquid soaps as if they were brad new, the idea is actually as old as soap. American Indians agitated yucca and other suds-producing plants in water to create cleansing solutions. Ancient Hawaiians used the flowers of the wild ginger plant for the same purpose. Many saponin (soap producing) plants grow throughout the world and were often the only source of soap for various peoples.

But we’ll use castile as the basis of liquid ritual soaps. Here’s the method:

Grate castile soap into a large bowl. Pack this into a measuring cup until you have exactly one cup. Remember to pack that soap!

Heat three cups of water until almost boiling. Add the soap chips to the water. Turn off the heat and whip with a wooden or (if you have nothing else) metal whisk until l the soap is completely melted.
Let sit until cool, then add 50-60 drops of the mixed, empowered oils. Once again, the exact amounts vary. You’ll know it’s time to sop adding oils when the soap is heavily scented.
Using a funnel, pour the liquid soap in a jar. Cap and shake vigorously to mix the oils. Label and use as needed.

Liquid Ritual Soap 2

You can also try making liquid spell soap with brews. To the three cups hot water add five to six tablespoons mixed, dried, ground and empowered herbs rather than the oils mentioned in the following recipes. Take off the heat, let steep for 10-13 minutes and strain. Gently reheat the water, add one cup castile soap shaving, whisk and allow to cool. It is ready for use.

Unfortunately, when herb brews are mixed with castile soap the scent changes dramatically., If you try it, you”l understand what I mean. If you don’t like the results, fortify the scent with a few drops of the pol from one of the included herbs.

To use the liquid soaps, simply wet your hands and apply a few drops of the soap. It foams easily and leaves your skin clean and scented.