WitchCrafting: Crafts for Witches

Crafts for Witches: Fire Starters

Merry meet.

Beltane is one of the fire festivals. The word Beltane translates roughly to “bright fire” and in Celtic tradition, the most important ritual was the sacred community bonfire lit at sunset the evening before. (Celtic days went from sundown to sundown.) Festivities focused on casting off winter’s darkness and celebrating the start of summer. It’s also a time of celebrating fertility

You can start your fire with items you likely already have on hand.

Perhaps the easiest and least expensive fire starters are made by filling cardboard toilet paper tubes with loosely packed dryer lint. Use two or three to start a fire.

Another favorite of mine starts with an empty paper egg carton. Into each compartment place combustible material such as dryer lint, pinecones, tiny twigs, sawdust, wood shavings, and shredded paper. Pour melted wax about half way up the sides and let it cool before cutting apart sections into a dozen fire starters.

No egg cartons? No problem. Put paper cupcake liners in a metal muffin tin and fill those. The paper can be peeled off, or left on. If you choose silicone baking cups, you don’t need liners and can pop out the fire starters when they are cooled. These can all be made with a cotton wick if desired.

Additional options include dipping pinecones in melted wax, rolling cotton balls in petroleum jelly until they are saturated and sticky, and spritzing a piece of loosely crumbled Duct tape with alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

To turn this craft into a spell, see SpellCrafting in this issue!

Merry part. And merry meet again.

 

 

 

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About the Author:

Lynn Woike

All my life I have known magic was real. As a child, I played with the fae, established relationships with trees and “just knew things.” In my maiden years I discovered witchcraft and dabbled in the black-candles-and-cemeteries-at-midnight-on-a-fullmoon magick just enough to realize I did not understand its power. I went on to explore many practices including Zen, astrology, color therapy, native traditions, tarot, herbs, candle magic, gems, and, as I moved into my mother years, Buddhism, the Kabbalah and Reiki. The first man I dated after my divorce was a witch who reintroduced me to the Craft, this time by way of the Goddess. For 11 years I was in a coven, but with retirement, I have returned to an eclectic solitary practice.

When accepting the mantle of crone, I pledged to serve and teach. This is what I do from my skoolie – a 30-year-old school bus converted into a tiny house on wheels that I am driving around the country, following 72-degree weather, emerging myself into nature, and sharing magic with those I meet. Find me at thewitchonwheels.com, Facebook and Instagram.