%20(2048%20x%201152%20px)%20(1400%20x%203000%20px)%20(1).jpg)
Cozy Coven Chats with Jenny C. Bell
Cozy Coven Chats shares the witch's journey. Jenny C. Bell has been a witch for over three decades and believes it's an empowering path. Jenny seeks to reclaim the word witch as well as the power of the witch's story. Join Jenny in exploring all weird and wonderful of being a witch.
Cozy Coven Chats with Jenny C. Bell
S.M. Harlow: Brewing Magic: The Art of Tea Witchcraft
Step into the aromatic world of tea witchcraft as SM Harlow, author of "A Tea Witch's Grimoire" and "A Tea Witch's Crystal Brews," shares her unique magical journey blending ancestral wisdom with modern practice.
Harlow's path weaves together multiple cultural traditions—her Mexican grandmother's curandera (faith healing) practices, her Japanese heritage explored through Reiki, and Chinese tea ceremony mastery. This rich tapestry forms the foundation of her approach to tea magic, where brewing becomes a sacred act of intention setting and manifestation. Listeners will discover how Harlow's early work at a metaphysical shop and holistic tea house shaped her understanding of herbs and healing long before she coined the term "tea witch."
What makes this episode particularly valuable is Harlow's emphasis on accessibility. You don't need expensive tools or rare ingredients to practice tea witchcraft. Even a simple teabag can become magical—use the string for knot spells, draw sigils on the tag, or transform it into a pendulum. Her practical advice cuts through the complexity often associated with magical practice: "Trust your intuition. If peppermint is screaming out at you, grab it, don't question it." This intuitive approach makes magic approachable for practitioners at any level.
The conversation expands into Harlow's newest magical exploration—crystal grids combined with tea brewing—creating a powerful system for channeling energy toward specific intentions. Whether you're seeking balance, manifestation, protection, or healing, these techniques offer practical applications for everyday magic.
Ready to transform your daily cup into something magical? Listen now and discover how ancestral whispers can guide your practice, one brew at a time. Subscribe for more conversations with magical practitioners and leave a review to help others find our coven!
For more: https://linktr.ee/s.m.harlow
Hey witches, and welcome to another Cozy Coven chat. I'm your host, jenny, and in this chat you definitely want to grab a cup of tea because we have Tea Witch SM Harlow as our guest. She is the author of two of my favorite books A Tea Witch's Grimoire Magical Recipes for your Tea Time which makes a beautiful gift we're getting close to Mother's Day, just saying and also A Tea Witch's Crystal Brews another beautiful book and gift For're getting close to Mother's Day, just saying. And also A Tea Witch's Crystal Brews another beautiful book and gift. For those of you who are not already familiar with her, sm Harlow is a passionate tea connoisseur, master herbalist and a seeker of holistic wellness.
Speaker 1:With a profound devotion for the transformative power of botanicals, susanna has seamlessly woven her deep knowledge of tea into the fabric of spiritual and physical healing. Her best-selling book, a Tea Witch's Grimoire, has become an essential guide for those seeking to explore the mystical synergy between herbal infusions and wellness, offering readers a unique perspective on brewing rituals that harmonize body, mind and spirit. This conversation was awesome. She leaves you with some really simple tea witch advice to get you started today, but also we really get to learn her journey of tapping into both her Mexican and Japanese heritage, we get to learn about how she's infused all of her practice with Reiki and herbs and crystals. She's a lifelong learner, for sure, and she blends so many different aspects of healing and witchcraft into her practice. So, without further ado, here's our conversation. Thank you, susanna, for joining us today on the chat. If you could, please take a moment and introduce yourself to those that are listening.
Speaker 2:Hi, thank you for having me. Well, I'm Susanna, otherwise known as SM Harlow. I am the writer of A Tea Witch's Grimoire and now also A Tea Witch's Crystal Brews. So yeah, now also a tea witch's crystal bruise. So yeah, I am. I guess I would say I'm not too much on titles, but I would say definitely a lot of friends and family say a tea witch. I am a tea witch that enjoys practicing majority of my practice with teas, herbs and now crystals.
Speaker 1:So I get a lot of questions about when I shared this book both in our coven and on BookTok. People want to know what is a tea witch, and I'm curious too because as far as I know, before I saw your books that wasn't a term I was really seeing. So I'm curious you know what is it and, kind of, how did you come to that, that title?
Speaker 2:Well, a tea witch. In most cases, you know it can be associated with kitchen witches, green witches, along those lines, hearthwitches, you know, but a tea witch, in particular, it focuses on using teas and herbs for majority of your practice, whether it comes to spell work, ritual work, gatherings with circles, you know you incorporate a tea brew in that process, a tea brew in that process, aligning your energies, your intentions, correspondences with different teas and herbs, depending on what it is that you are trying to manifest into reality. So I would say that that, in particular, is a well-rounded definition of a tea witch, is a well-rounded definition of a tea witch. How I came about that title, or really this part of my craft, is when I was younger, in my early 20s, I had an opportunity to study and learn with a tea master, a Chinese tea master, with a tea master, a Chinese tea master, and when he taught me all of the ceremonial ways and how to prepare teas and how to serve it, I just thought I fell in love with the beauty of it, the beauty of the ceremonies and the beauty of, in a way, I guess, the servitude of it, and it inspired me.
Speaker 2:I had also worked there. It was a tea house slash the word is escaping me right now. It was a tea house, but it was also a holistic clinic and so you served clients that came in looking for holistic care and whenever I served tea to these people whatever whether it was for health, balance, harmony, peace, that it basically I served it with those intentions for them, to help them, and it greatly inspired me and my path in that regard. I mean, prior to working there and to studying that, I did work at a metaphysical store and I got to learn a lot of the craft through there, using a lot of recipes and learning about the herbal folklore, and with that knowledge, along with the tea house knowledge, it just came together. I served clients, I served friends, family and it just I saw the magic working through that and it is just something that it just took a hold I couldn't let go of. It just became something I continuously loved and devoted myself to.
Speaker 1:Well, it's easy to say that you had the coolest jobs. Like I've never heard anybody talk about me. I worked at a pet store, like what, what, where were these jobs? Like I would have totally loved them. So anyway, I'm just kind of like being a little bit not alone there.
Speaker 2:I did work at a pizza shop too on there.
Speaker 1:I did work at a pizza shop too. Okay, so let's back up. So you worked at the metaphysical store, I'm guessing also in your 20s, and so were you already like on a witchy or pagan path at that point, and that's why you got that job. Like, how did? How did you start on the witchy path?
Speaker 2:How did you start on the witchy path? So, okay, we're going far back now. Okay, so most witches, most stories, begin in their childhood. You know, when I was a child, early as like five, six years old I already had felt this connection with Mother Earth, father Sky, grandmother Moon, all the nature spirits. There was a connection there. I could hear them, I could feel them and I let that guide me. But there was also my grandmother who was a healer. In ways she was like a faith healer, or in other words you could call her a curandera, and I was. I mean, I wouldn't say I knew the word at the time, but I was definitely inspired by her. I loved to observe her whenever she had people come to her, either for guidance, for healing, for prayers, you know. So she was a great source of inspiration that I learned from. And then, when I was actually 17, you know, from then to there, I just I naturally just followed the calling. What magic energy, what have you call it? It just always came to me naturally and I would just follow through with any kind of intentions, any kind of messages that came to me.
Speaker 2:So by the time that I was 15, 16 years old, I was hungry. My grandmother was passed by then. I I was a solo practitioner, what you would say at the time, and I was just hungry for knowledge. I needed to know more. At that time. You know, you can only find so much resources in libraries and bookstores when it comes to books. You know, I knew I needed more and it was almost like the universe answered that because just right down the block from where I lived, a metaphysical store opened and it was like I wouldn't say it was the first of its kind, you know, but it was definitely like an amazing sight to me to see this beautiful big purple building full of pentagrams and symbols and triple moons.
Speaker 2:And I was just, and I would walk home from school every day passing this store and I would just always constantly be drawn in and speak to the woman that worked there and it felt like, like when I was stepping into my grandmother's kitchen. It felt like stepping into home, you know, and I grew a relationship with the woman that worked there or who owned the store, and at 17, she gave me a chance to start working there and to learn. Majority of it was really to learn there and to learn. Majority of it was really to learn and, yeah, I spent a good, a good portion actually, of my time there in the back room amongst, like, all the herbs, the crystals, the candles, and basically learning to make it all, making the oils, making the incense, making all the recipes, and learning as I went. And it was there where where I was like, yes, this is, this is where I'm supposed to be, this is what I'm supposed to do.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. I um, I'm from New Jersey, but then I moved to kind of a rural part of California in my senior year and when I was like 18, 19, our first witchy store opened up to is called the Divine Gifts Shop and that is actually where I first learned about crystals. I took a crystal class there at 19. And that's where my love of crystals. I was already taking geology classes and my geology club treasurer and I'm terrible at math, so I don't know how I got that job, but and so it was like two worlds coming together. I was going out to the field collecting garnet and things like that that we could find in the Mojave Desert and then also taking this class with my special like witchy books and putting them together.
Speaker 1:So those shops were rare, I feel like. And far in between, you know, if you weren't in a big city, but there was some kind of little boom. I feel like. And far in between, you know, if you weren't in a big city, but there was some kind of little boom, I feel like 90s, early 2000s of those shops opening, probably because of the craft and all of us with, like our azure, green uh catalogs wanting something in person, right?
Speaker 1:so, um, I love that. Uh, do you remember the name of your shop, ca?
Speaker 2:Cauldron Kitty. Well, she first started off as just Cauldron and then, over the years, it became Cauldron Kitty.
Speaker 1:I love that. That's really I love that. I would like to go back to your grandma, so if you wouldn't mind sharing her name, latino culture of a healer versus a witch, right, because a lot of times, even though they do similar things, I have a lot of Mexican friends and it was like you know, yeah, it's cool to go to the Kirandera, but it's not cool to go to the Bruja, like that's, that's a no. So I would love to hear a little bit about grandma, if you don't mind sharing.
Speaker 2:No, not at all. My grandmother's name was Simona and she was born in Mexico, a small little village there by the coast, and she, I think she, came to the States Ooh, that's a little tricky to say. My mother was nine, so that was like in the 60s about probably mid to late 60s when she arrived to the states with her family. It was a large family that we grew up. You know it was nine children there and she was an Aquarius, but she was also deeply Catholic. But she practiced her healing through her faith. So when I say that basically a lot of it, just like any other Kirandara of that faith, like any other Kirandera of that faith, they practice healing through prayers, healing through sacred waters, holy waters, through sacred smoke, through sacred touch, and a lot of what she did was through her cooking, through touch. She had these amazing healing hands that I'll never forget this.
Speaker 2:One time that I was very rambunctious as a child, I fell down a tree and I cracked my wrist and it was in agony and I was quiet for like a good couple of hours. I didn't want to get in trouble for climbing a tree, so I was quiet for a couple of hours and I was in agony just holding it. I was huddled and I remember she finally came looking for me because she knew she just knew that was another thing she had. She just knew things and she found me and she it was funny enough, my Spanish at the time was also not very strong, um, and so there was like a a language barrier there. But she and I had this energetic telepathy that I didn't have to say anything, she didn't have to say anything, we just connected in that way and she just knew something was wrong with my wrist. And the moment she put her healing ointment herself over my wrist and touched it and prayed over it, that the pain just went away and it didn't come back, until I went to a doctor and they aligned it.
Speaker 2:But no, she just had this way of using her energy, using her faith, and extending that to healing. Her culture, latin American culture, like you say, kiranderas are faith healers of a sort. Dadas are faith healers of the sort. They use their energies, their faith in certain ointments, remedies, oils, cooking teas, even because I saw her doing a lot of teas as well all it for the way, all for healing, and that when I speak of healing, it's basically covering all things, whether it's spiritual healing, physical healing, emotional, mental. It basically covers that whole circle and majority of it begins within the spirit. The spirit is broken, it can be healed and it can heal everything else.
Speaker 2:So she always approached it in that way, firstly, like asking them what are their struggles, what are they facing, what it hurts them. You know, she always tried to find the source within each individual. Definitely not bruja, like you said. There's differences there. I mean, they have both a servitude. In some ways Brujas will serve others in manifesting their clients' desires, whether it is returning, negative energies, protections, love, you know, whereas with Kiranderas, I mean, they do something similar to that. But I think the main focus there is if you can heal the spirit, you'll heal the mind, heal the heart, heal the body and all that will come to them, whether it be love, protection and such.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, I as a outsider, but someone who studied it quite a bit, I've always thought of my spanish is atrocious, but curanderas as like shamans, or what we would call in like the new age community, like a Reiki healer, but more than that, yes, and so that's how I've always kind of looked at them, because I've studied shamanism and it's very similar. It's like the shaman sees the sick spirit. It's like that's who the shaman is healing.
Speaker 1:They're serving the spirit, and then, when you serve the spirit, everything else falls into place, and I think of that as kind of like similar, do you feel?
Speaker 2:like her influence affects your practice, like even now. Oh yes, definitely. You know, a lot of my practice also involves ancestral work and whenever I do any kind of ritual or ceremony, I invite her spirit to it and she is one of my guides, wholeheartedly. She, you know, I, I contribute a lot of my abilities to her. I am an empath, I am a psychic, I am a Reiki practitioner, but I also incorporate a lot of her traditions to it, a lot of her Kirandera traditions to it. I, you know, when I am not doing tea, which is because, even in my, I work at a shop here nearby it's called Sky Apothecary and I do offer those services, those cleansing or otherwise known as limpia services there, and a lot of what I do there is definitely an extension of her. I know it, I know she works through me, she teaches me, she has taught me how to heal, how to serve others, because that is definitely a big part of my path.
Speaker 1:Even from the get-go, from incorporating tea, it has been to serve others, to heal others it has been to serve others, to heal others well with you know, limpias, which I'm currently um over halfway done with the course I enrolled in because I wanted to yeah, so I wanted to learn, as I have a mexican best friend and I've had. Uh, when I was a teacher, the majority of my class were mexican-american, and so we talk about the rolling of the egg and you know like.
Speaker 1:I knew a lot of this as an outsider, but I wanted to take an actual class and so in the course I've learned how important herbs are, like when you're doing like a white smoke, limpia, or you're doing any kind of cleansing, you're inviting herbs in to communicate and help and and I love what I've learned is like talking to the herbs, because I've always done that in my own magic, is like good morning, rosemary, thank you for being here and cleansing and protecting me, like I've always felt that, and to see that in the class you know it's it's amazing to me like how all of these things kind of blend right.
Speaker 1:I've studied herbalism. That's like been my new kind of adventure for the last few years and how herbalism led to limpias, but limpias going back to herbalism, and so I think it makes sense now that I'm learning more of your journey and how you ended up with like tea, which is like going from this great influence of your grandmother and then working with like a tea ceremony master, I'm like, well, there was no choice really for you but to write these books.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it came full circle.
Speaker 1:You mentioned that you are Reiki master. Is that right? I would love to know a little bit about your Reiki journey, because I say to people all the time like, if you can afford it and you have the time, I feel everybody should get attuned to Reiki because it's just such a good experience. Whether or not you're going to use it doesn't matter, I just think it's such a good experience. So I'd love to know a little bit about your Reiki journey, if you don't mind.
Speaker 2:No, of course. A few years ago I started my Re the Reiki courses, also in a way to, I guess, honor my other ancestry. I have a very big ancestry mix in me. I have Mexican but I also have Japanese, and so I wanted to honor that because as part of my ancestry work I was hearing my Japanese culture coming in saying okay, check this out, see what you can learn and how to incorporate us into it. So I was like, okay, let me start here with Reiki. So I took some courses online.
Speaker 2:I met my Reiki master, sebastian, and he basically gave me the full rundown on it. He my first two attunements and then basically I wouldn't say, left me to my own devices, but basically it was a lot of learning to heal myself. It was like a 40-day journey of healing, balancing and learning to attune. So it was a grand journey let's just say that Very spiritually healing, and it definitely showed me different methods of how to incorporate Reiki with my lymphias, my two cultures together, and how to weave it together and to use it, and to which I now use. Now where I work at Sky Apothecary, I incorporate both Reiki andymphias together to establish balance, clear away the chakras, heal the spirit.
Speaker 1:That is so beautiful. I love that. Yeah, that's amazing. So it's like there's healing on both sides of your culture and I love that you are a product of that and you're honoring both cultures with your practice.
Speaker 1:I think not everybody's comfortable with ancestry work but for me I'm Italian and for me, really diving into Italian folk remedies and Italian folk magic has been so healing. You know, it's like if you can, I think, if, if you're listening, if you have opportunity to learn your ancestry, and just you don't have to go. You know, some people are like a real mixed, mixed up kind of bag. You don't have to go for all of it. But if there's one that you're like Irish I really want to know more about Irish folk remedy and Irish folklore it can be really healing.
Speaker 1:And then, like you said, the ancestors show up as guides, right, so your grandma is a guide. But then your Japanese ancestors were like, hey, what about us? Right? Yes, I love that. I find too that a lot of people's grandmothers are guides. Like nine times out of 10, when I give someone Reiki, a grandmother shows up and it's yes, they really love to watch us, right? I would like to continue on kind of your story and it's kind of backtracking, I think. But I would like to know more about the tea ceremony, because that is really cool. I think I don't think a lot of people outside of kind of the cultures get to learn tea ceremony. It's kind of special. I feel that you were taught since tea ceremony, so I'd love to know a little bit about that too.
Speaker 2:The Chinese tea ceremony. Okay, so the Chinese tea ceremony usually consists of the type of tools. There is a tray I wish I could remember the name of it right now, but it's difficult to say but there is a tray that's really. It almost looks like a two level and it has slates to it where the water, the teas, can drain down into and usually that begins that ceremony. Like you, you bring it out, you showcase it. You know, usually the more intricate the better. It symbolizes your rank in a way, because as far as Chinese tea connoisseurs go, it is all about how let me choose the right words how beautiful and let's say, I don't want to say privilege, but it's basically how ornate it is, you know, and or sometimes it basically shows you a lot of where you stand like. It can be simple, or it can be very ornate, and so you start there and then you usually have these lovely tea cups oh, they probably still storage, I have some, they have. They're basically with a trivet and a nice round bowl to it with a lid to it, and there's usually about as many as you need of who is attending and whoever is the brewer and slash the server. It's basically very respectful. You brew it in one cup and then the way that you serve it it's supposed to. The lid is supposed to remain on top and you serve it so skillfully, so exact, that not a drip falls. It's. It's supposed to be. I want to say them all very showy, but it is, in a way, it's supposed to represent. Every move that you make is supposed to represent respect very smooth, very harmonious, um, very much like the, the japanese tea ceremony, the green tea ceremony, where you serve each bowl to each person representing and then, with respect, you pass it to each one and then, interestingly, as people, as each of the people attending are sipping your tea. If they like your tea and they want to show respect back to you after what you have presented to them, they loudly sip your tea. I thought that was so interesting when he said that to me when I first took a sip of tea, and I did it very quietly, he was just like you don't like my tea, I'm like, I'm sorry what? And he's like if you like my tea and you like the way that I served you respectfully, then, with respect, you slurp it loudly, showing that you also enjoy and you appreciate the moment, the experience the tea in general. So it's like, okay, wonderful, and it's not even an afterwards moving forward.
Speaker 2:You usually have your discussions, because it's oftentimes during meetings. You know business arrangements, you know promises, things like that, that you're having a tea ceremony over and when it that when the discussions are done, you don't actually have to sit there and finish to see if you want to move on or you want to finish or you want to try another tea. You basically pour over the tea through the tray that has the slates to it and it is kind of like it is done, um, also paying respect, thank you, it's done, it's, it's good to move on and things like that. So it, it was really beautiful. I'm if he, oh, if he heard me describing all this, he probably would whack me because I probably did a very poor job in explaining. But yes, it is, chinese tea ceremony is all about respect in general, basically, and showing and not necessarily an equal balance between each other. But I guess it is. Yes, yeah, I would say that where you come together in an equal playing ground and discuss, come together, things like that well.
Speaker 1:The way you described it reminds me of how, when witches come together, they'll light a candle, right. It's very similar. It's like a case and then, when you're done, you pour the tea out and it returns to like the earth, basically. So that made sense to me. Like you, I think you explained it well. As an outsider, I could envision what you were talking about. So don't don't worry, I would love to know too. You're also an herbalist. You wear, like many, many hats they're all tea related hats but I would love to know a little bit about that journey and how that kind of connects back to tea.
Speaker 2:Of course. So my herbalist journey was in the very beginning. It was definitely self-taught. You know it was because I started in the metaphysical shop and then I worked my way over to the holistic shop slash tea room. She it was. It was two people that worked at that shop. She was a acupuncturist, holistic healer, and then there was the tea master. They both worked together. They owned the shop and when I worked there I was fascinated by all of the Chinese herbs and I wanted to learn from that and it. That basically started the self-taught herbalist journey there where I would sit down and I would learn as much as I can about holistic remedies.
Speaker 2:26 or 27,. I had a family member that went through a health issue and it affected me deeply because I wanted to help her and I was trying to think of so many ways that I could have helped her when it came to remedies, herbs and things like that. But I held myself back and I wouldn't say I regret it, but it definitely it pushed me where. I wanted to learn more. I went into a holistic school and I took that and that's what basically Led me more to solidify Becoming an herbalist. I'm still doing a traditional naturopathy doctor, traditional name property courses found a little longer, but, yes, that's what's guided me on that journey.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you for sharing that. I find a lot of witches at one point find themselves herbal curious, right, because it's like they're in all the things they're in the incense, they're in the simmer pots, are in you know a lot of things we use, and so having limited knowledge of that sometimes feels like it holds you back a little bit. So I think it makes sense for a lot of witches to study herbalism, even if, like you said, first is on your own, just, you know, getting curious and learning. Okay, so we have like a good background on the healing, the tea, the herbs. In your latest book you also talk about crystals and let me tell you I was so excited because my crystal book comes out this year too. So I think of us as like crystal sisters and crystals coming out. So I'd love to know about when crystals entered the scene and like a little bit about that too.
Speaker 2:Okay, so funny enough. Okay, I worked at a metaphysical store. There was crystals everywhere, there was herbs everywhere, but what was really mostly calling me it was the herbs. Sure crystals, I loved it. They were pretty. I loved to connect to them when I needed to, you know, but they never really like drew me in so strongly as herbs did. So I let the herbs guide me and show me the way.
Speaker 2:When I moved from California to Alabama a couple of years ago, I met a wonderful group, circle of witches that were all crystal fanatics. They loved crystals, they absolutely loved crystals, and so whenever we gathered, I brought the tea, they brought the crystals and it just kind of you know what, like their love and fascination inspired me and I was like you know what, let me check these crystals out a little bit more. You know, we, whenever we gathered, we talked about it, we talked about tea, we talked about herbs, we talked about crystals and more and more it started to fascinate me and the crystals started to talk to me and before I knew it, I started buying crystals. Before it was like constantly tea and herbs and and all that was driving my husband crazy.
Speaker 1:Now it's crystals which are more expensive. I just have to say crystals.
Speaker 2:I'm like, oh my gosh, you're so pretty, you're 30 dollars, okay, come home. But no, and I started learning about them more and I started taking courses to become a crystal healer. Because why not, you know? I'm like, okay, I'm already a healer, I need to know all ways that I can holistically, spiritually heal. And so I started taking courses on crystal healing. Taking courses on crystal healing and I had, like in my first book, a Tea Witch's Grimoire, I have crystals in that book, but I wouldn't call them as a standby, but they were there to help infuse your tea and herbs. But when I met this group and we started coming together, like I said, with the crystals, crystals with the tea and as I was studying crystal healing, when it got down to the course on using crystal grids yeah, geometric patterns it was like for people a tea which is crystal brews.
Speaker 1:There are so many grids in here. Like you cover a lot of grids and it's beautifully illustrated. So if someone is brand new to crystal grids, I feel like this is a really great book. If you've been doing it a while, it's also great book because you take it to the next level with tea Right. So I just wanted to interject real quick to tell people that was the thing I was most impressed with, because in our coven a lot of new witches and something they've all been wanting to learn is grids. And then I'm like oh well, here it is. I mean, it's like laid out, it's like so, and I've used some of your grids and I find them to be very powerful. So I just wanted to interject that real quick.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Thank you. I'm very happy to hear that you've tried them and it and they worked out great for you. Yes, when I discovered crystal grids and using them, it was like a whole new epiphany hit me. It was just like back in my early 20s when using tea in my craft hit me and I knew. Then I was like, ok, I need to explore this more, I need to follow that guidance and I started incorporating crystal grids.
Speaker 2:I started when I was making them and practicing with them. I was like you know what will be beautiful, a teacup, let's put it right there. And I just I fell in love with it. And then when I incorporated it into my practice and I tried it and I tasted it, I tasted the energy and it was just electrifying. And then I started bringing it to the gatherings. I was like everybody, let's try this, let's tell me what you feel, what you think. And everybody was just all just wow with that, you know. So I started diving deeper. I started making more recipes, I started exploring and experimenting with crystal grids. So every time there was a gathering, I brought something new. I brought a new grid of crystals tea and it was just, it was fabulous, and that's really what motivated and inspired and put all into the tea which is crystal grids. Yeah, yeah, the Tea Witch's Crystal Grits, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if you wouldn't mind sharing a little bit about the books, I just have to say they're beautiful and I love that they have a ribbon bookmark. I am amazed by the amount of detail, because there are recipes for like everything. You mean every kind of moon, every kind of Sabbath, and then now we have in the second book all these crystal grids. I feel like everybody needs both. You just can't have one of them. And they really are new. And I have to say that, as someone who has been a witch for a long time and has read a lot of books on witchcraft, I got so excited. I was like this is new to me, like this is I. I love tea. I always say if I could have any fictional best friend, it'd be Uncle Iroh from Avatar. Like I love, because I and we would hang out in the Jasmine Dragon together in my, in my head. But yes.
Speaker 1:I never. I never put them together, and so I'm like this person is a genius. That's what I was thinking when I got the book. So if you wouldn't mind sharing just a little bit about the books and how they're helpful for any witch's practice, Of course.
Speaker 2:Well, honestly, I try to make it very broad for any witch, no matter what way you practice, that it can be as a guide for them, however they wish to incorporate it. You know, if you're not a huge tea fan, then you incorporate crystals. You can do that with any spell or ritual or gathering. A tea witch's grimoire was definitely more focused on using herbal recipes, teas and such. It was honestly a tea, which is grimoire, was my original baby, like I've told people.
Speaker 2:Everything that you see, all the recipes in that book was our mind.
Speaker 2:They come straight from my own grimoire, from all the years that I've practiced tea recipes and tea ritual and the trials and errors that went into it to see if it worked out or it did not work out. And such A tea which is crystal brews is very much the same as well. It still has my tea recipes, my personal ones, as well as the crystals and the grids that I had experimented and practiced with with others or with myself. So, whether you are a tea witch or any other witch and you have an inspiration, an inkling to experiment with herbs, herbs or crystals, but also really in just finding yourself, finding and trusting in your intuition, finding your path, your craft and what feels right to you. I also definitely wanted these books to not be difficult, to not be something that you have to wait to do with all these tools and things like that, but something that you can incorporate into your daily life, your daily mundane tasks, whether you are at home or you're on the go. You can use any recipe, any intention, any crystal.
Speaker 1:So that's what I was really hoping that it would be more of as a guide to helping others find their own personal joys and inspirations. Yeah, I think it's very approachable. No-transcript.
Speaker 2:Well, I always say pretty much to anyone who asks to really just trust in yourself and trust, trust in your intuition. Your intuition is your ultimate guide and it will tell you what it is that you need every day. Every day, you wake up and you go and you say what do I need today? And especially if it comes to herbs, allow your intuition and allow the herbs to talk to you. I know that sounds like a little foreign, maybe, to some, but having that connection to your tools, to your herbs, to your crystals, letting them talk to you, is a sure way of guiding you towards what you need that day. Like, for example, if, if I wake up and I need some balance and clarity and I walk into my apothecary and I see all the herbs, if peppermint is screaming out at me, whether it is the color of it or the scent of it, or just a pull and draw, trust it, grab it, don't question it, don't be like wait, but isn't peppermint for protection or expelling negativity, well, maybe that is something that you actually need. Maybe you need to expel the negativity that is blocking the clarity in your mind. You know, just trust it. Don't overthink about the correspondences, about the mixture or what have you. If it's something your energy, your soul needs, trust that. And then, when it comes to tools, whether you have a teapot or a teabag, don't make it complicated for yourself either.
Speaker 2:You know your craft is your own. If you can only afford a te bag at the tea aisle, then get that too. Get it, use it, incorporate it. That string that's attached to the tea bag is a cord that can be knotted. That can be knotted with your intentions, or can be tied around a cinnamon stick. Be creative. Or you could even draw a sigil on the tag of it. Incorporate it. Or even use it as a pendulum, hanging it over your teacup and asking your, your tea brew questions like is this going to be a good day and see which direction it goes? Or even use it as that intention, like to draw away negativity, counterclockwise it. You know it. Be creative with your craft, trust in it, and surely every day you'll get closer to finding who you are on this path.
Speaker 1:That is beautiful and, I feel, very attainable for anyone and no matter their tea experience level, no matter where they live. Just using a teabag setting some intention. I love all the little ideas you gave right now. I greatly appreciate you giving us your time, your energy on this chat and sharing your journey with us as becoming a tea witch. So thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 2:I greatly appreciate it. Thank you for having me here.
Speaker 1:Well, witches. Thank you for listening to the conversation. I hope you walk away with a new kind of insight and love into the power of tea. I really do think at some point all of us kind of on our witchy path, go to this, this witchy herbal quest, right, and, like Susanna said, it can just start with curiosity and intuition and getting to know what's at your grocery store, so it doesn't have to be a difficult path. Her books are A Tea Witch's Grimoire and A Tea Witch's Crystal Brews. You can find her at the Tea Witch's Grimoire and A Tea Witch's Crystal Bruise. You can find her at the Tea Witch blog. So that's her Instagram and her TikTok handle. It's the underscore tea, underscore witch underscore blog. She also has a website, the Tea Witch's blog, which has really beautiful posts. So definitely check those out. And thanks again for watching or listening, wherever you are tuning in from.
