Practical Magic BLOG PARTY! (Sat. Sept 25th!!!)

There's a little witch in all of us.....

Welcome Witch Lovers, to MY celebration of the Practical Magic Blog Party!  I'm Carol Ochs!
Thanks so much to the brilliant gals hosting this soiree! Wonderful idea!

I LOVE the movie Practical Magic, how it tells the story of the true essence of *magic*...it's LOVE! Sister love, aunt love, daughter love, friend love, garden love, man love, Halloween love.....I'm such a hopeless romantic! And The House---my God....I adore that house and garden--it's the home I dream of! And I also love the movie's emphasis on the gift of traditions (always there for one another despite their differences, gardening & herb lore, Midnight Margaritas, Halloween)!  I try to keep the spirit of Practical Magic alive at my house year-round, and even on this blog of mine devoted to "finding the magic in every day".  I welcome all new followers!  Join on up! 

I'm a full-time handcrafted soapmaker and a fantasy witch artist, so of course, what else will I be featuring in honor of Practical Magic but SOAP and WITCH ART?! 
Like Sally and the aunts, I dabble in herbs and potions! 

I make several soaps that are part of my Wylde Wytch Soap line and are an homage to Practical Magic!  On Saturday September 25th (Practical Magic Blog Party day!) and Sun. the 26th, any of the following soaps ordered on those dates will receive a 10% discount if you mention in the Notes section of our online retail shopping cart, that you found us through the Blog Party!  (retail and wholesale!)

Amas Veritas

Remember young Sally summoning a true love spell in the movie Practical Magic, a spell called Amas Veritas? We've created our own Amas Veritas with the passion-invoking essential oils of patchouli, sandalwood, rosewood, ylang ylang and star jasmine, with a sprinkling of crushed red rose petals throughout, and the entire bar enriched with rosehip seed oil---pricey oil, but nothing enriches and drenches your skin so luxuriantly in moisture!  Bathe with this soap prior to love rituals and to attract love with it's fragrant and earthy aromatherapy benefits!  Like casting a love spell!  

Blessing Seed Bar

Nothing banishes negativity and protects like the potent magic of blessing seeds, also known as Nigella seed.  This bar is also empowered with freshly ground burdock root and mugwort herb, ...herbs of protection, and scented with the curious essential oil of petitgrain (from the bitter orange tree leaf) and is known to alleviate depression and anxiety, as well as oils of clary sage and sandalwood...balancing for all skin types and soothing to mental clarity.  Bless thy body with blessing seed!

Encantado

(means "enchanted")

Encantado (Spanish) is a soap that honors ancient ones before us, particularly the Curanderas, or medicine women, who practice their herbal magic and never mind when people call them "witch"---for they know well from the herbal teachings passed forth from Curanderas before them, that the poultices and herbal concoctions they make for the sick cure them and they are never called "witch" in a negative manner again; they become "healer witch". Encantado is filled with ground herbs of rosemary and lavender as well as the pure essential oils of both. The Curanderas are not the sole holders of this secret; green witches everywhere know of the cleansing, healing, and mental soothing power of antiseptic and skin-balancing rosemary and lavender....

"Keep rosemary at your garden gate,

Grow lavender for luck!"

Midnight Margarita Bar

"Put de lime in de coconut, and drink 'em both up." - Harry Nilsson

Who can resist the call to the margarita blender, especially in the Midnight Hour, as celebrated in Practical Magic? This soap was created to celebrate good times shared with your best coven or slumber party pals! Real coconut milk is added to this juicy lime scented soap that will positively make your mouth water at the tang, topped with epsom salts as salt on the rim and grains of protection. A special token gift to bring to all of your best friends and margarita lovers! So get skyclad, and Cheers!

Mint Oatmeal Shaving Soap

In Practical Magic, remember Sally lamenting to Gillian, ..."I was really, really happy. We were going to open a botanical shop. Michael'd get the ingredients. And I'd make the stuff. He really loved my mint-oatmeal shaving cream. He couldn't stop eating it."

As a soapmaker, as soon as I heard that, of course I simply had to MAKE IT...as soap! And so I did, and YES, it IS an awesome shaving soap, and an all-around soap, too! But I would not recommend eating it--you may burp bubbles! Loaded with skin-soothing ground oats, white clay (to help whisker or leg hair stand up to be shaved, and to extract impurities) and super-enriched with avocado oil, we're sure you'll love the skin-tingling magic of this bar! It's also an excellent idea to take a mint soap shower or bath to cool off overly hot skin, fevers, and mint aroma sharpens the mind prior to test-taking or activities that require acute mental clarity! An excellent wake-up remedy to use after a night of Midnight Margarita-ing.... *wink*

Verbena

In Practical Magic, Sally's charming botanical shop was named "Verbena Botanicals"....and the very word "verbena" conjures up images of bright mood scents, astringent citrus purification, and garden goodness!  And so it is with our Verbena bar....a bright essential oil blend of lemon verbena, a touch of lemongrass, geranium, and clary sage---all mood elevating aromas, and deep-cleansing to the skin with antiseptic properties as well!  Excellent for oily or acne-prone skin.  Sprinkled with broken leaves of lemon balm herb, and freshly squeezed lemon juice from our own lemon tree, you can't help but have a smile cast upon your sunny face when using this happy soap!  Spread the joy--it's MAGIC!

You can find these and several other Wylde Wytch Soaps at this link!

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And, two art pieces I've painted that I think particularly capture the essence of Practical Magic are:

"Whispers Only Sisters Understand"

...and...

"More Than Who You Think You See I Am"

and again.....these two open edition art prints are available at 10% off if mentioned on the shopping cart that you found us at the Blog Party, on Sat. Sept. 25th and Sun the 26th!

You can also find other witch art of ours available at:

House photos taken from a site LOADED with all things Practical Magic: Amas Veritas!  Visit it! 

And...magazine pics of the photos taken of the actual Practical Magic House Set and published in Victoria Magazine.

I can't think of a more fun way to celebrate Practical Magic than this Blog Party!  So hurray for Practical Magic and all you fellow witches and witch-lovers! 

"....fall in love whenever you have the chance!"
(I DO!  With the same man!)

I can't jump off my roof and fly on Halloween like the Owens',...but I have been spied kissing a real live dragon, on the ground, in my own front yard on Halloween!  Seems I have the *power* to tame dragons....

P.S.  We'll be having a random drawing for a giveaway of the above-shown TWO giclee-quality art prints "Whispers Only Sisters Understand" and "More Than Who You Think You See I Am"....(Together! A $28.00 value) for all entries who submit a comment here!  And....

Also included in the prize will be five herb/botanical pouches for you to conjure your own potions/spells with! (Included: blessing seeds, rose petals, calendula petals, lavender buds, and mugwort). We'll announce/post the winner here on Monday and the winner will have the option of having their own blog featured/promo'd/linked by us, too! 

Good luck! 

Love & witchy hugs,

~Carol

:::clinks margarita glass:::

We'd love for you to leave a message of your visit here (and to enter the giveaway!) and be sure to visit ALL the wonderful blogs associated with the blog party link!  Spread and share the magic!

Fellow Blog Party Participants:  I've visited many of your blogs already and plan to visit you ALL...working my way down the list!  I had to work this weekend though and haven't been able to do so yet....but I plan to!  LOVIN' your stuff!