Four Thieves Vinegar

Not last night, but the night before, 24 robbers came running through my door…

OK so there weren’t 24 of them, only four. They were robbing the homes and businesses of the black plague victims AND not catching it which was something unheard of. Apparently as the story goes one of those dastardly dude’s mother was an apothecary, at least this is the version of the story I heard. She had whipped up a brew of cootie whoop ass so they wouldn’t get sick. Whether she knew what her brew was being used for is questionable; no one seems to talk about that detail. Eventually these thieves were caught and in exchange for the recipe they escaped execution.

So today, we have a brew that has been passed down through history that is not only a antimicrobial (if made with food grade materials you can eat it) but it is a potent magickal protection brew used for everything from averting the evil eye to getting rid of bothersome folk. Good stuff to have around as a staple if you ask me.

Here is a common recipe:

 You can make your own “Four Thieves Vinegar” by following the simple recipe below.

Four Thieves Vinegar Recipe: Use equal parts of the following herbs:

• Lavender
• Sage
• Thyme
• Melissa (lemon balm)
• Hyssop
• Peppermint
• A handful of garlic cloves

Let these ingredients cold infuse in a glass jar covered with apple cider vinegar for about six weeks. Shake it up periodically during that six weeks. Filter out the herb and pour into a clean bottle. I like to keep mine in the refrigerator.

While my personal recipe is a little different, the important factor lies in the fact that each of the herbs used are antimicrobial. I also do a similar mix using essential oils that I put in a spray bottle with water to mist around the house when the kids bring home the cold or if tensions in the house get high due to conflict in or out of the home.

You can make a salad dressing of it by mixing 1 part vinegar to 2 parts olive oil. Shake well before pouring over leafy green salads. You can take it by the teaspoon to help ward off winter illnesses.

I like to put about a teaspoon of it into a bucket of water and use it as a cleaning rinse. I also put it in a spray bottle to clean off counter and stove top surfaces.

While all of these seem to be rather mundane uses, the thing you have to realize that as you are physically cleaning, you are clearing out the magickal realms of your home as well. Negative energies love to gather in dusty, dreary, dirty cluttered places and the best way to deal with negative energies in your life is to give them no refuge in your home. WIth no place to hide, negativity and bothersome folk scurry away like the man in black himself is on their tail!