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Spell and Recipe Journal

Recipe: Intention sticks

Ingredients:

  • cinnamon (the kind for burning)
  • 3-10 bay leaves
  • baker’s twine or embroidery thread
  • (optional) basil, lavender, or any other herb that corresponds with your intention

Process:

Choose a number of bay leaves that corresponds with how long your cinnamon stick is. If it’s a short stick, only use three bay leaves. If it’s a long stick, you may be able to use 9 or 10 bay leaves.

Write your intentions on the bay leaves with a sharpie. You can write the same intention on each one, or you can vary them, but it will be more powerful if you keep them all at least thematically similar. Also, you can write your intentions in words, symbols, numbers, sigils, or however feels most powerful to you.

Boil the bay leaves in a pot of water for at least five minutes. (This is a good time to do a bay leaf and cinnamon boil but don’t use the same piece of cinnamon.)

Measure a piece of baker’s twine about the width of your arm span.

Align one of your wet bay leaves with the bottom of your dry cinnamon stick. Tie the bay leaf to the cinnamon with bakers twine, and wrap the twine tightly around both.

Continue wrapping the twine around the cinnamon stick, adding more bay leaves as you go up.

When you reach the top, work your way back down. Tie the two ends of the twine together at the bottom.

Set the intention stick to dry on a rack for 7-10 days or until the bay leaves are completely dry.

Uses:

  • Hold one end of this stick over a candle and let the smoke carry your intentions into the spirit realm.
  • Leave it smoldering in a fire safe bowl or abalone shell while you meditate on your manifestations.
  • To make an offering to your spirits/deities/ancestors, write intentions like “gratitude” and “worship.” Hold this over a candle while you commune with your spirits.
  • For a love spell, use rose petals instead of bay leaves (if they’re fresh you won’t have to boil them first), and write the names and birthdays of the lovers on the rose petals.
  • For a money spell, write money sigils or the amount of money you need on the bay leaves and wrap the cinnamon in a basil leaf before adding the bay leaves.
  • For a protection spell, tie a rosemary branch to the base of the cinnamon and wrap the bay leaves around both. Use it like you would a smudge to bless and cleanse your house.
  • To manifest peace, tie a lavender branch to the base of the cinnamon and wrap the bay leaves around both. If you only have lavender leaves, wrap the bay leaves around the cinnamon stick and wrap the twine around both. When you get to the top, wrap the lavender leaves around the bay leaves and cinnamon, and wrap the twine around all three to work your way back down.