Who Says a Mop Bucket Can't Be Enchanting?

Spring cleaning with flowers 🌸 + What's your take on Mother's Day trigger warnings?

“I must have flowers, always, and always.”

― Claude Monet

Sweet Honeybees,

Can I tell you a secret? 

I used to think flowers were a waste of space in the garden. I thought they were useless decorations and never wanted to use precious soil real estate for plants that wouldn’t produce food.

Such a heartless plant dictator, I was.

At some point in the past few years, my stance on flowers took a full 180º spin.

And thank Goddess for that, because I’m finally discovering how totally far-from-useless flowers truly are. In addition to adding beauty to your home and providing food for bees and other pollinators, flowers have a multitude of magical benefits.

I use them to:

• Make medicinal salves, tinctures, and teas

• Deter pests from my vegetables

• Make aromatic sachets and charm bags

• Attract pollinators

• Add a pop of color to salads, drinks, and cakes

I’ve also used flowers to clean my house. They really add an extra layer of magic to your spring cleaning.

Two things I’m really into are, 1) making my own non-toxic cleaning products, and 2) enchanting my home with magic while I perform seemingly mundane tasks. This lil hauswitch brew is a perfect blend of both!

I’ve shared this recipe before. But when I was out gathering violets earlier this morning, I felt called to dig it up and re-distribute. 

How to Make a Magical Mop Mixture with Flowers

Here’s what you need:

• 1 mop bucket of hot water

• 1 cup distilled white vinegar

• 1 cup baking soda

• ½ cup rubbing alcohol 

• ½ tsp tea tree oil

• ½ cup water infused with spring flower petals for 24 hours (I used violets)

• ¼ cup water collected from the spring rain, infused with a citrine quartz crystal beneath a full moon*

*Using rainwater infused with a crystal is totally optional. I already had this jar of citrine-charged rainwater, and I didn’t have any other plans for it.

that citrine crystal is now buried somewhere in my yard

Here’s how to make it:

1. Meditate for five minutes before mixing the ingredients. Focus on the cleansing energy of spring rain, the scent of flowers on the breeze, and the sense of tranquility you want in your home.

2. Mindfully mix the ingredients in the mop bucket.

3. Light a candle.

4. Mop your heart out.

5. When you’re finished, dump the dirty mop water out the back door.

Medicinal and Magical Properties of Violets

I used violets because they’re one of the first spring flowers to pop up and because my field is covered in them. But there are plenty of other good reasons to incorporate violets into your daily life. 

I’m not a doctor, and this is not medical advice:

• Medicinally — Violets are cooling, nourishing, moisturizing, and mildly pain-relieving

• Nutritionally — violet flowers and leaves offer a boost in vitamins A and C, calcium, magnesium, beta-carotene, and bioflavonoids

And now, the woo-woo stuff I know you love…

Violet flower essence is great for highly sensitive people who have trouble opening up in social or group situations. I haven’t made a violet flower essence, yet, but it’s on my to-craft list.

Magical properties of violets include tranquility, peace, hope, harmony, protection, love, luck, and good sleep. I have a charm bag containing violet petals, lavender petals, and some other magical doodads hanging over my bed. No bad dreams here!

If nothing else, foraging for violets is a lovely way to spend a Sunday morning.

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That’s all I got for now. If you missed last week’s post, you can read it here:

And check out the playlist I made for you at the bottom!

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I was actually going to write a much different post on the topic of Mother’s Day, specifically, how it’s become a trigger warning fest.

But when I asked my AI writing bot for improvements, it suggested three things:

1. My post should have a trigger warning for Mother’s Day

2. My language should be more inclusive

3. I shouldn’t try to control how other people celebrate Mother’s Day

Fair enough, writing bot. 

As a person who isn’t triggered by Mother’s Day, I do have questions. If anyone wants to engage in an open, respectful discussion about Mother’s Day trigger warnings, please reply to this email or hit me up some other way. (Just Google Lauren Steinheimer, I’m really not hard to find.)

Thank you for reading! I love you!

XoLauren

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