A seasonal postcard

Gingerbread poppets

Poppets are an ancient magical doll. They're used for many things such as healing, protection and even as good luck charms. Often small and made by hand using cloth, they can be easy to make.
Gingerbread poppets are used for the Winter season, especially during Yule.
Below is more information from Magical Poppets:

Here are just a few ideas for magical gingerbread poppets that are appropriate for the holiday season:

Love poppet: Make a poppet to represent the object of your affection -- remember that in some magical traditions it's frowned upon to make a specific person the target of your working. If you are simply trying to attract love to yourself, but you don’t have a specific person in mind, focus on all the desirable qualities you want to see in a potential lover. Stuff your poppet with small bits of rose quartz, rose petals, parsley and peppermint.

Prosperity poppet: The holiday season is a good time to focus on prosperity. Fill the poppet with a bit of cinnamon, orange, or ginger, and maybe even a small coin to get the message across.

Healing poppet: When you make this poppet, be sure to indicate what - and whom - you are trying to heal. Focus all of your energy on the ailment in question. Fill with lemon balm, feverfew, ivy, and pine, as well as bits of turquoise and bloodstone.

Protection poppet: Create poppets that represent each member of the family, blending herbs and stones into the clay. Use hematite and amethyst, as well as basil, patchouli, and coffee for filling.

More on this from here: 

All About Magical Poppets

A book on the subject of magical poppets:

Pagan Portals - Poppets and Magical Dolls by Lucya Starza 

Liquorice

Also called Glycyrrhiza glabra this plant is sweet tasting and produces seeds. Ever since ancient Greece, the liquorice plant has been used as a medicine to treat heart conditions and asthma, while Roman soldiers chewed on liquorice roots in their marches over wet cold terrains. It's part of a Fabaceae family genus that thrives in warm climates. The Greek physician, Dioscorides, shaped the meaning and name of the plant we know. It's also named "sweet grass". Besides medicine, liquorice has been used in tobacco and candies. It can be poisonous in very large amounts.

More here

A few poisonous berries

1. (Hawthorn) These tiny red berries are used in making wine and jam but they're not pleasant to eat raw. Some of them have a bitter taste and others may cause pain. Not to be eaten, and those with a heart disorder should not really consider touching them as raw berries.
2. (Honeysuckle) Avoid eating the seeds of these red berries.

3. (Yew berries) These berries are lethal and highly poisonous. 

4. (Black Bryony) These pretty clusters of bright red berries are extremely poisonous and should not be consumed at all.

5. (Bittersweet) Grown in groups of oval shaped berries, these are also called "Woody Nightshade" and they are really poisonous.
6. (Spindle) The Autumn grows such cute pink berries that are really very poisonous and deadly.

7. (Holly) The luscious looking ruby like berries with the prickly leaves are poisonous and must not be eaten.

8. (Butcher's Broom) Red berries grown among a stabbing prickly plant mustn't be eaten. These are poisonous to humans.

9. (Ivy) A bunch of small black berries are very bad and must not be eaten by anyone.
10. (Tutsan) Part of the St John's Wort family genus, these berries are used in medicines but they're not edible and mustn't be eaten.
11. (Lilly Of The Valley) Red berries grown from this plant are very poisonous.

12. (Black Nightshade) This changes from green and black, and they shouldn't be consumed.

13. (Deadly Nightshade) Extremely toxic black berries.

14. (Dogwood) These black berries are unpleasant tasting and it's advisable not to eat them.

15. (Herb Paris) Poisonous black berries.

(The above list was originally posted on She Wolf Night).

Happy Winter Nights

Vetrnaetr or Winter Nights is a time when Summer has ended and we begin Winter. Have a blessed Winter Nights season. Turnips of the old ways instead of pumpkins. The Irish and Norse used turnips for their celebrations this time of year. I wish you all a wonderful Alfablot.

Night time visitor

In the early hours of the morning, I was awake and finishing to get ready for bed. I must mention that I love staying up very late. Then I heard noises coming from outside, that I haven't heard before. Where I live is so silent at night time that, besides the odd car in the distance, a rare helicopter or siren, or even night birds, this was different. I checked outside opening the curtain and I couldn't see much. I looked through the peep hole and still didn't have a range of view. I had to go upstairs and look. There they were. A couple of foxes, maybe more but it was very dark. They were passing through, and I left them alone. Foxes are very nervous and they always run away if I approach them. I suggest to people out there don't try and go near foxes, because of many reasons. They might carry diseases, or they may be so terrified. Humans haven't been kind to foxes, which is sad. Foxes often appear at night and they're beautiful creatures. This is the only wild canine that lives in the UK and Ireland today. Wild wolves were hunted to extinction in the British Isles . The last wolf killed in Ireland was in 1786. The last wolf killed in Scotland was in 1680. The last wolf was killed in 1390 and the last wolf in Wales was killed in 1166. With the wolves gone, the deer population increased and these animals feed on plants and the less forested the country became. Thinking of the UK and Ireland during Medieval Times will conjure up visions of castles, monks and knights, as well as thick forests with wolves hiding in them. Today the wolf's little cousin the Fox, is there in our woodlands, gardens, streets and parks, hiding and being hunted for sport, which is cruel, because foxes keep down vermin. Farmers would say foxes are the vermin because they attack chickens but keep your chickens in better barns and guard the livestock with dogs. This subject has brought me onto talking about the depressing subject of animal cruelty which wasn't my intention. I wanted to share my joy at having foxes pass my house.

Rayne   

(The fox picture isn't mine)

My past life regression

Last week I experienced a form of past life regression while under hypnosis. The purpose was to find out why I've always had social anxiety issues since childhood. The hypnotherapist technique video sent me under a deep calm relaxed state. I listened to her explaining that I may find myself at some point in my past or even in my childhood. I found myself becoming paralysed within and seeing visions or having flashback memories. While listening to her instructions, I was trying to focus on the question of what I was doing this for, and then I was no longer aware of sitting in the chair. I found myself as a child, with bare feet and wearing a long white dress. I had short blonde hair. In my own personal childhood, I never wore my hair short.
I was told to look around and explore. I was in a house with pale walls. There was a window with fruit trees just outside. It was familiar and I knew it was my home. The feeling I had at that very moment was fear. I was terrified of going outside and looking around as I was told to do by the therapist, I simply didn't want to leave the house. I was crying for my mother, who had gone out to the market that day and never returned. The ground had been shaking. This was the point that the hypnotherapist wanted me to understand more. While telling me to go outside, I didn't want to go outside. I was asked to remember the point of death, and I refused to do that so in panic and I cried "No!" When asked what was happening, why I didn't go outside, I just repeated in a childlike voice "ves voos!" "ves voos!"
Later I had experienced past life regression again to find more details. It was clear that I had been a Roman girl of seven years old, who was one of many victims of the volcano Mount Vesuvius that erupted in 79 AD.
From that regression, I still can't link why my past life memory surfaced when under hypnosis to deal with everyday issues, other than become aware of this. My past life self blocked the moment of her death. It feels amazing to have experienced this past life regression but also it saddens me to know what became of her and the many thousands of victims who died on that fateful day.

Rayne

Depictions of Hel

Hel is often portrayed as a monstrous looking woman that is half dead and half alive. In the Eddic texts, she’s described as the daughter of Loki. The All Father god Odin gave her the Underworld to rule over, which bore her name, Hel. It's a place sometimes called Helheim.

She’s considered a Dark Goddess and has much in common with the Roman goddess Proserpina, the Greek Persephone and the Hindu goddess Kali. The Proto-Germanic languages have pronoun feminine words Hell and Hella that come from an ancient Indo European ablaut that sounds like Kel. It means “conceal, to cover and save”. Source.

Worship of the goddess Hel has been around for so long. During the Migration Period there were jewels and bracteate showing the goddess.

It’s possible that the way Hel appears is more symbolic as she dwells in different planes, and will also look half dark and half light, instead of half corpse and half beautiful. There’s a duality in this goddess because she’s more powerful than most people think. She’s like a divine mother for the spirits of the dead. Also she’s said to be a goddess of wisdom with knowledge of the Earth given that she lives deep inside it.

(by Rayne)

Above is "Veil of Death" by artist Cris Ortega

Rosy Maple Moth

All moths are stunning but one that really stands out because of it's vibrant look is this one: Super cute Rosy Maple Moth is also called Dryocampa rubicunda by expert books. They’re very brightly coloured and look like toys.

Dryocampa rubicunda - Wikipedia

The Rosy Maple Moth is the cutest bug on Earth (photos)

Summer Solstice 2019

From Storm Valkyrie, I wish you all a blessed Summer Solstice 2019.

Have a magical and wonderful day.

Medieval drink

The food during Medieval banquets and feast halls were noisy and colourful. They had musicians, dogs running around, merriment, cheer and even fighting! So what was it they ate and drank regularly? And what made medieval taverns so attractive despite their constant brawling? And did people drink much at home besides water? Can I just say that water itself wasn't in good quality back then so it wasn't the most safest to drink.

Quote: Medieval Drinks, particularly wine, were also preferred with food as water was generally considered bad for digestion. The most common medieval drinks were alcoholic which were considered nutritious and were also less prone to putrefaction because of the presence of alcohol. milk was confined to the young or elderly and was mainly consumed by the poor or the sick. Among the nobility and royals, wine was the preferred beverage while the Medieval drinks of the common people were mainly beer or ale.

More info here at chronicles
Medieval drinks 

Morus alba

Morus alba is another name for "white mulberry". This edible plant is both used for medicine and to feed domestic animals including silkworms. This plant thrives better in moderate and warm temperatures. The plant has often been used to help stress and diabetes as it's a plant long been used in traditional medicine.

The white mulberry has appeared in a story by Ovid about tragic lovers Pyramus and Thisbe. Both lovers are prevented from marrying because of their feuding parents. So the couple talk to one another through cracks in a wall. They both agree to meet at the tomb of Ninus, beneath a large white mulberry tree. Thisbe appears early at the destination but she encounters a lion with blood on it's mouth after a hunt. he runs away in fear, dropping her veil. Soon, Pyramus arrived there and saw the lion, next the Thisbe's veil. Thinking that Thisbe had been killed by the lion, Pyamus feels so distressed that he commits suicide using his own sword. Then a lot of blood spattered everywhere, and on the white mulberry. Thisbe soon returns and discovers dead Pyamus laying on his sword. She becomes so upset that she falls upon the same sword, and her body collapsed beside her dead lover. More blood covered the white mulberry leaves and stained it red. The gods created from this tragedy a new species of red mulberry in memory of this loving couple.

There is an English nursery rhyme song about the mulberry bush.

"Here we go round the mulberry bush,
The mulberry bush,
The mulberry bush.
Here we go round the mulberry bush
On a cold and frosty morning."

The rest of the song is here: Here we go round...

Tips on avoiding nightmares

Nightmares can happen for a number of reasons, and they seem to generate within a hot stuffy room. Try getting fresh air into the room before sleep, and place something like incense in the room. Nightmares also happen if you’re not wearing something comfortable or sleeping in a weird position. Avoid drinking coffee and eating cheese before bed. Coffee and cheese can bring bad dreams. Also the best crystal for this is Violet Fluorite, a perfect stone for sweeter dreams. Special herbs to help get rid of nightmares and to not have any for the following night, use Lavender. An exotic plant to cure nightmares is a Lime flower from Pukka herb, which is calming and used as a drink. There is also another great healer plant to cure nightmares, and this is Rosemary, used as a tea and often associated with medicines. 

(Image by artist Toby Fredson)

A box of coins

When I first moved here 4 years ago, I used to hear strange sounds very late at night. I used to stay up late after everyone else gone to bed. I spent time doing some reading, watching TV or just browsing the internet, and it was gone midnight. I used to hear noises coming from the locked shed in the garden, it sounded like something heavy moving around. One day I went into the shed and couldn’t find what made the noises. There was a pile of bricks on the floor in a corner, left by the previous owner, I happened to shift them a little and they made the exact same sounds. Weeks later there was a hidden box inside a niche above a shelf.It was full of old foreign coins and must've been there in the shed for a very long time. After the discovery of that box of old coins, the noises at night stopped, and I haven't heard it ever since.

Witch's Night

It's now the celebration of the Spring and Summer Witch's Night. It's also celebrated with names such as Walpurgis Night, Beltane, the May Queen, Maypole, Morris Dancers, Planting, Hand fasting,  and Florialis. Some enjoy using this time to light candles and it's a fire festival, with some dancing and mead.
Enjoy a magical season.
Hail to the land wights, spirits and gods.

(Picture by the artist Molly Harrison)

Happy Eostre

Storm Valkyrie blog wishes everyone a blessed and Happy Eostre. 

The Black Devon

Clackmannanshire is a county, but there is a town called Clackmannan with the river The Black Devon. The name of Clackmannan means “Stone of Manau”. That also refers to an older name Manaw Gododdin, which is pre-Roman Britain and in the same region, as Manaw means men or people and Gododdin has a lot of interpretations such as the obvious “God Odin” so that the whole name could be taken as “Tribe of Odin” or “Manann”.
The river The Black Devon is shallow and full of fish. Two miles of it disappeared in coal mines. There is a main other river that flows near called River Devon and this was previously called Dovan, or its Gaelic name Duibhe, which basically means the “bank” as in river bank. 
The area is filled with wildlife and has features such as fairytale looking waterfalls.

Spring Equinox

This year's 2019 Spring Equinox happens during the end of Winter and start of a supermoon over the arrival of Spring. It begins of Wednesday the 20th and 21st March as the supermoon blooms in the night sky over a Spring landscape when flowers and blossoms appear.  

Was Queen Mary 1 of England loved by Philip of Spain?

The dashing Philip was regarded as handsome, and he didn’t feel much towards the Bloody Mary. Love between royals back then was rare, even unknown because marriages were political. Mary was a bastard child, who didn’t know her mother, but she was Catherine of Aragon, who was married to her brother. She (Mary) was a Catholic and wanted to reform England back to Catholicism and overturn her father’s change to the country’s religion.

Before her brother Edward died, he made a will that placed their Protestant cousin Lady Jane Grey as heir to the throne. This didn’t happen and soon Mary became queen and then Lady Jane Grey was beheaded for treason. The decision to marry was to secure her place as a queen and prevent her legitimate sister Elizabeth from taking her crown.

She married Philip of Spain, who was younger than her. This sealed an alliance with Spain and removed any rival threats. Mary began to love Philip but he didn’t feel the same about her. There was a movement to usurp Mary, with her sister involved so Elizabeth was put in the tower.

Mary had always been sickly and had irregular periods. The strangest episode was the phantom pregnancy and Philip dumping her afterwards. It may be possible that there was a miscarriage or baby was stillborn because Mary had a bump.

Mary seemed to have a liking for bloodshed, and many lost their lives under her 5 year reign. Protestants were executed, and soldiers up to thousands died in a failed attempt to keep Calias. It was her death age 42 from an illness that passed the crown to Elizabeth.

Angry Mary turning in her grave? Not only is she a subject of the Bloody Mary game, but her wishes that would happen after death went completely ignored. The wishes included payment of her father and brother’s debts. She wanted her money to go towards the building of new churches. And for her mother’s body to be placed beside her grave. As those requests went ignored, Mary could’ve been very enraged from beyond. After her death, Philip moved in on her sister Elizabeth but because he was obsessed by everything Catholic, Elizabeth wasn’t interested in him.

By Rayne (originally posted on Quora)

Disney style lesson about periods

In 1946, Disney created a short animated film called "The Story of Menstruation". It's only ten and a half minutes long but it's so clear to understand and easy to follow with advice. It's also a very charming little film for girls. I don't know why this was ever shelved and banned. I and many other women agree that this is a nice film and does a better job at explaining puberty than modern school sex education classes. Have a look at this really cute Disney short about periods.
The Story of Menstruation by Disney
Enjoy!

Rowan

The rowan tree is also called a mountain ash. They can grow at very high altitudes and are found sometimes growing in odd positions, influenced by gravity and even weather. The bark of rowan trees are almost white. They produce blossoms that develope clusters of red edible sweet berries, high in vitamin C. These trees provide a food source for many animals including birds and butterflies. The ancient Celts nicknamed these trees fid na ndruad, which translates as "witch trees" and "wizards trees". Also the Celts believed that the rowan tree is otherworldly and was imported from a place called The Land of Promise.
Rowans and rowan berries were considered protection against evil spirits and the undead, so rowans were planted in graveyards. It was believed that a rowan stick was used to stir milk to stop it curdling. Rowan twigs are considered a good divining rod to locate water and treasure. People used rowan charms to prevent ailments such as rheumatism.
Unfortunately rowans get sick by diseases such as fire blight and silver leaf.
The ancient Norse and Germanic tribes used rowan wood to carve runic staves. The tiny stems of rowan berries are in star shapes that look like mini pentegrams. There are many pendants carved from rowans that can be found at online jewel and amulet shops.
In Finnish mythology, Rauni is a healer and goddess of the rowan tree. Rowans have been said to often grow next to megaliths, stone circles, fairy rings and dragon lines.

Harmful foods during pregnancy

Many things need to be highlighted and it's very important to tell pregnant women that there are some foods she must never eat. Often official guidelines from medical staff, doctors and midwives say that fish and red meats are not good. People wishing to start a family must be told that there's a load more foods to avoid, and those foods appear harmless because they eat it anyway. Pregnant women are encouraged to stay healthy and are told what to eat and drink, and not what to eat and drink. Midwives and nurses always outline this. The NHS advice for food during pregnancy mentions the same foods to avoid, such as soft cheese, eggs, pâté, raw meat, processed meat, liver, game if killed by lead, fish, tea, alcohol and fruit juice. When you want to find out what you can eat there is just a tiny piece about fruit and vegetables. 
Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables because these provide vitamins and minerals, as well as fibre, which helps digestion and can help prevent constipation. Eat at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day – these can be fresh, frozen, canned, dried or juiced. Always wash fresh fruit and vegetables carefully.
 Link to article of NHS on pregnancy diet here.
This is all it says about it. The problem is that it doesn't mention any fruit and vegetables to avoid while pregnant. Certain fruit and vegetables, especially exotic ones, are best avoided during pregnancy as they can cause harm.

Fruits to avoid during pregnancy:

Pineapples
Grapes
Bananas
Tamarind
Papaya
Dates
Sesame seeds
Watermelon
Frozen berries
Canned tomatoes

Mainly papaya, pineapple and grapes are very harmful during pregancy. There are also vegetables and other plants to avoid eating too while pregnant. .

A list of vegetables and herbs to avoid during pregnancy are:

Fenungreek
Asafetida
Garlic
Angelica
Peppermint
Raw sprouts
Rosemary
Sage
Turmeric
Ginger

While some pregnant women have been encouraged to take the above spices and herbs to help ease nausea, the foods on both fruit and veg lists are very harmful and bring on a miscarriage. If starting a family please research and be careful. Not all fruit and veg is good for you whilst pregnant.

  

Can humans have purple eyes?

It’s extremely rare in humans. Purple eyes have been considered a fantasy colour such as the eyes of people in ASOIAF world, although this does happen in real life too.

There is a name for this: Alexandria Genesis.

An English girl called Alaxandria Augustine was born in 1329, and her eyes were purple or violet. Her parents thought that she was probably possessed by a demon and took her to a priest. The priest found the girl healthy and not possessed. He believed that purple eyes can appear among humans, and it started when a flash of bright light appeared over ancient Egypt, causing peoples eyes to turn purple, and their complexion to go very shining white. Stories around hint that these people with shining white skin and purple eyes are immune to heat and don’t burn. They are said to have a high immune system and don’t age like everyone else. This is probably also just a story.

Actress Elizabeth Taylor had violet coloured eyes, although it must be mentioned that violet is a type of blue shade. Purple is actually a combination of the colours blue and red. Violet is a type of purple as well as a type of blue. Violet contains more blue and has less red than purple. Also this eye colour is a mutation of blues and other pigments. Some liken it to a disease.

Purple eyes are often debated.

Posted by Rayne

(Originally posted by me on Quora but with some minor edits)

Green lady

Today I just wanted to post on here about a ghostly experience that I had last December. It might be to do with the fact I was feeling tired. Anyway I stayed up very late and started to finish what I was doing on the computer. Everyone was all asleep in their beds and I was the only person awake. Then around 3:30 ish a.m. something caught my eye. A strange woman appeared in the dining room and she silently walked passed me. Then she vanished when she reached near the bookshelf. I did an image search and found an example of what the woman was dressed like (see picture above).
She wore a green dress with bustle and a green hat. She had red hair. The era was about 1870 to 1890 fashion. If this was just an hallucination, then why did I see a woman dressed in these clothes down to every fine detail? Was I scared? No actually I wasn’t. Instead I felt amazed by what I saw.
(Originally posted on Quora).
Rayne

Dreams of flying and other symbols

Here are some of my own dream interpretations of a few dream symbols. Much of my understanding of the subject is both through reading, research and personal dreams that I've written down.

Hair - It means time. The hair being cut in dreams is nothing until hair suddenly grows long so quickly. It often indicates time itself as hair growth from short to long is about two years.

Teeth - Also it means loss of time, or missing time. It means missing things, lost hours for work and no pay time. It also means money, loss of teeth means loss of money or things.

Blood - Dreams about blood depends on how, what, ect. Most of all the colour red. Blood is often bright red so a vibrant colour will point to a colour dream.

Falling - Loss of control, sense of helplessness, losing the plot.

Flying - Feeling free and wanting to escape hard work, life and problems.

Pregnancy/birth - New things coming your way.

Monsters - Your inner fears, phobias and irrational sense of dread. Maybe you dream of monsters because you can’t focus on what’s happening.

Ghosts/dead people (who you know have gone) - Memory dreams, reminders of those people and past issues you’re thinking of and sort out.

Someone trying to kill you - If it’s someone you know, then ask yourself the following questions: Does that person done something that annoyed you, have you ever felt hurt by them, do they do things that remind you of something. If the person isn’t anyone you know, the dream is letting you know that you’ve got to be cautious about what you’re doing. It doesn’t mean someone will kill you, but that you have to be careful and avoid situations that are trouble.

Pulling string and worms out of your eyes -

What stands out is the worms and string being pulled out of your eyes in the dream. What makes worms and string connected is that they’re of a similar shape, and can be pulled in waking real life. String is found inside the stitching of clothes and if pulled, the fabric will come apart. The same with worms, who are living underground and they’re “pulled out” by birds and other creatures that want to eat them. Pulling them out of your eyes indicate that your eyes are more than just mirrors to the soul. Your eyes are closed and keeps in things that you pull out in your dream. In a way you’re treating your eyes like dirt. That isn’t to say you’re doing this at all in life, but it’s symbolic.String symbolises joining and binding, laces, ties, connections, network, and worms symbolise creepy crawly things and uncovered things, sneaky wormy people and buried negativity. Pulling that out of your eyes means you’re probably very critical, not careful, seeing the worst, and acting on your emotions a lot will be your undoing. Dream is basically telling you to think careful and not judge by what you’re looking at.

Rayne

(The above are  from some of my posts on Quora)

Smilax

The climbing thorny vine plant with flowers and berries is Smilax. This plant is also called greenbrier. It can grown and invade other plants. They can grow quickly during Winter as the seeds are robust and animals tend to feed on them. Their flowers are greenish white and their berries are either black or red. Greenbriers have rhe ability to grow tightly as thorny walls and shelters for animals, small creatures and birds.
Food from Smilax is used in medicine and beer. Despite the herbal qualities of breenbrier, it's considered a weed and cut away by many gardeners. The thorns of a greenbrier will be sharp and unpleasant. The smilax plant would treat a number of issues with the stomach including nausea and period pains.

Such a ferocious weed with climbing abilities is a provider also of food and medicine. It features in stories of legend too. The princess Briar Rose, falls in a sleeping spell and only the curse cab ever be lifted when a prince kisses her. She's been alseep for so long that the entire castle is overgrown in dense greenbrier thorns.
Also a story of tagic love. A mortal man named Crocus falls in love with a beautiful wood nymph called Smilax. He's turned into a saffron flower and his love, Smilax becomes the thorny greenbrier weed.

Nettles

The most widespread plant is the native European nettle. Rugged in appearance, with shaggy leaves, they give an itchy sting. It's true that wherever humans go, nettles follow. This is because nettles are created in soil with phosphate and nitrogen by waste. A variety of creatures including butterflies eat them. Also nettles are part of human diet too, such as soups and tea.
Nettles are considered one of the nine plants in the 10th Century English poem "Nine Herbs Charm". This is about medicine plants that treat all manner of horrible pains and infections. The nine herbs are:

Mucgƿyrt 
Attorlaðe
Stune
Ƿegbrade
Mægðe
Stiðe
Ƿergulu
Fille
Finule

The Stiðe mentioned on the list means Nettle. The prose that comes with the "Nine Herbs Charm" is:

A snake came crawling, it bit a man.
Then Woden took nine glory-twigs,
Smote the serpent so that it flew into nine parts.
There apple brought this pass against poison,
That she nevermore would enter her house.

Nettles are full of nutrients and mostly water. They can be cooked and mixed with vegetables, used as a puree and paste, added to stock and as a condiment.
Getting a sting from nettles is unpleasant. Natural treatments for stinging nettle pain and itchiness are dock leaves, that are often but not always found near nettles. As a kid, I suffered painful stings from nettles and my grandmother rubbed the area with a dock leaf, which healed instantly.

Mint the cold spice

Mint or Mentha is a sweet healing plant full of medicinal properties. Often described as cool tasting, these plants tend to grow in shady dark places by damp, pools and in rain. Fragrant and flowering, blueish green in colour, the leaves are often used to make as food ingrediants, in tea and even in bath essentials, shampoos, soap and perfume.

Mint is full of menthol, often used in medicines to treat pain. Mint also helps to ease feelings of nausea. Farmers that prefer organic treatments of crops use mint insecticide. Mint is known to grow anytime of the year.

Minthe from Gods School

In Greek myth, a beautiful naiad called Minthe from the mountain by Elis was looked upon by the god of the underworld, Hades. The wife of Hades, goddess Persephone was offended and out of jealousy, the goddess of the underworld transformed Minthe into a plant. She became the mint plant who was most cherished by Hades that Minthe was his sacred plant.

More on Mentha family
 
"Mint leaves, without a qualifier like 'peppermint' or 'apple mint', generally refers to spearmint leaves. ... The taxonomic family Lamiaceae is known as the mint family. It includes many other aromatic herbs, including most of the more common cooking herbs, such as basil, rosemary, sage, oregano, and catnip."

Quote from Mentha Wikipedia 
 

Tea

There are people who absolutely love drinking tea, and I'm one. There are so many kinds of teas to chose from and not all of them are my favourites, but a few are. I happen to love spicy chai. 
Herbal tea is one such type. Also called Tisanes, herbal tea is made from plants with no caffeine.

There are four actual teas in groups belonging to Green, White, Black and Oolong. All of those teas come from one evergreen plant called the Camellia Sinensis.

Some like to make fruit tea by brewing leaves from raspberries, strawberries, ect.

In ancient times, tea was only drunk as a form of medicine. It became a popular beverage drink in quite recent history.

A strange nickname for the process of making a cup of tea is "the agony of the leaves" when tea leaves unfold when hot water is poured.

Although I've said all of this, herbal tea isn't regarded as a normal tea because it doesn't come from the tea plant Camellia Sinensis. Herbal teas come from other sources like roots, fruit, flowers, rice, seeds and other leaves. In Tibet there is tea made from butter. In Italy there is tea from olive trees. The hibiscus flower produces a tea called karkade.

In the 17th and 18th centuries  European tea lovers found it so expensive that tea was locked away in caddies.

Links:

The Magic of Tea

Welcome to the New Year

It's been a very long time since I posted on this blog. Storm Valkyrie will continue from where I last posted, and also shall be my new home from now on.
My first blog She Wolf Night is now run by a friend. You can still find my older posts over there. I've added links to my fiction on here. I will add future posts on Storm Valkyrie with essays and fiction again, if that is what others want.
So let us drink to 2019 and Happy New Year.