May News 2025
Welcome to our May 2025 Kitchen Witch newsletter.
Well, here we are with our 5th newsletter of the year already! So much to look forward to in the KWHQ camp. By the time you read this, Rachel, Heather and myself will have returned from a mini break in Dorset. We will update you with the shenanigans that took place in next months newsletter.
Lots happening in the next few months - the Pagan festivals will all be underway - Green Oaks Gathering, Pagan Tribal Gathering, Wight Raven Camp, just to name a few. We also have our online workshop and ritual to celebrate the summer/summer solstice coming up in July. Free, open to all and streamed live on all of our usual channels.
Full details of our first event which is the Green Oaks Gathering can be found below.
Wishing you a Blessed Beltane!
Ness x
What's Going on in Nature this Month from Ness
We haven't had a lot of rain recently, but it hasn't stopped the growth going on in our fields, hedgerows, meadows and wastelands. The photo above was taken alongside a hedgerow on one of my daily dog walks. There is Hogweed, Cleavers, Nettles and Meadow Grass.
May is a time that I feel the energy of the Green Man - everywhere you look, there are signs of new life. We are moving into the 'fertility' stage of nature now. Bees are pollinating, there is blossom everywhere and 'attractants' of all kinds are showing themselves. Wild Arum has its flower spike, dandelions are forming their wonderful clocks. Cow Parsley, Hogweed, Hemlock, Dock, Red and White Dead Nettles - all just growing at a huge rate, clambering to get above everything else.
Daisies, Buttercups, and Wild Violets are in the lawns. a sure sign that summer will soon be upon us.
Animal Ally for May by Heather
Stocky, trundling powerhouse of strength, Badgers are impressive in their nonchalance until provoked! They are members of the mustelid family, which includes pine martens, otters, polecats, ferrets and the wolverine ( the animal kind, not Hugh Jackman!).
Badgers are short, stout, powerful animals that live underground in colonies called setts, which can extend well over 50 metres! They live in mixed-sex groups of between four and eight animals which is known as a clan. While badgers tend to live in groups, they do not always act cooperatively with their fellow clan members. Badgers are unique in this way as individuals in a clan will forage for food on their own, unlike other social groups of animals who might hunt together and reap the benefit as a group. They are omnivorous, mostly eating earthworms, but also slugs, snails and soft fruits.
A badger’s sense of smell is particularly important as it plays a vital role in communication. Badgers have several scent glands which produce a variety of odours, used for distributing information like warning signals and mating status. Scents produced are also used to tighten bonds between social groups, with studies suggesting that clan members have similar scents.
Symbolism
We can connect with Badgers energy to help us with wisdom, determination, vision, insight, perseverance, focus, balance, harmony, boundaries, protection, defence
To work with them meditate to build a relationship, find artwork, a statue, make a badger poppet or draw a picture to keep on your altar.
Recipe for May by Heather
Watercress Soup
This recipe also works well with fresh young nettle tops, but the watercress does have a spicier flavour.
40g/1 ½ oz unsalted butter
1 onion, chopped
1 large potato (about 300g), peeled and chopped
1 small celery stick, chopped
750ml/1 ½ pints chicken or vegetable stock
130g/4 ½ oz watercress, plus extra to serve
80g/3oz crème fraiche
1 tbsp lemon juice
Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the onion and lower the heat slightly. Fry, stirring from time to time, until softened, then add the potato and celery and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Increase the temperature a little and pour in the stock. Season with pepper and some salt to taste, bring to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes or until the potato is very soft.
Reserve some of the smallest leaves from the watercress to garnish the soup, then add the rest to the pan and cook long enough for them to wilt, which won’t take more than a minute. Stir in the crème fraiche and lemon juice.
Use a stick blender or a food processor to whizz the soup until very smooth. Taste for seasoning, return to the pan to gently reheat before serving.
Magical properties –
Clarity, protection, fertility, spirituality, creativity, health, healing, grounding, prosperity, cleansing, purification, happiness, decision making.
Flower of the Month by Rachel
Hawthorn (Crataegus oxyacantha / monogyna)
A hedgerow plant that grows well even in poor soil and high winds. It has white flowers in spring that are followed by dark red berries in the autumn. Watch out for the spiky thorns though!
Associated with easing heart complaints I think it works well in love workings and spells to make the heart sing with happiness (awwwwww).
Hawthorn is a tree of the Fae, forming the faery triad with oak and ash. The hawthorn offers a gateway to the world of faerie. The white flowers followed by the red berries have long been associated with fertility. May Day circlets are often made of hawthorn, adding more weight to its fertility properties.
Dry hawthorn berries and thread onto black cotton and hang above your threshold or sprinkle the berries around the boundary to your home for protection. Add hawthorn berries to your floor wash to purify your house. Add it to workings where you require forgiveness. Use hawthorn in workings for protection, hope and warding against evil… yes another tree that protects against witches (sigh), although apparently witches would shapeshift into hawthorn trees to rest before flying through the night.
Hawthorn Magical Properties:
Happiness, fertility, love, protection, purification, forgiveness, faeries, hope.
Ruling Planet: Mars, Venus
Sign: Sagittarius
Element: Fire
Gender: Masculine
Taken from A Kitchen Witch's World of Magical Plants and Herbs by Rachel Patterson
Green Oaks Gathering
Rachel will be selling her books in the traders marquee as well as doing talks and running a workshop as Kitchen Witch making Witches Ladders.
This is a huge event with lots of workshops, music, stalls and speakers. We are looking forward to it!
Full details can be found at:
Rune of the month from Ness Armstrong
This month's rune is Jera. Jera is the rune of the harvest, but it is also the rune of cycles. Look at the image on the rune. To me, it looks like the waxing and waning moon. Jera, this month, tells us that in order to secure a bountiful harvest, we must put the effort in to our goals, our dreams and our ideas. You can't expect things to just drop into your lap, you have to work at it. If something isn't working, keep trying again. Look at it from a different perspective - you will succeed if you want it badly enough!
Oak by Heather
Has anyone else been captivated by the profusion of blossoms on oak trees this year?
Looking at the burgeoning greenery of our woodlands, I had noticed that the bright green of the newly unfurling oak leaves was almost being hidden by a dark mustard colour. On closer inspection I found the cause, the enormous amount of mature male catkins literally dripping from the branches!
The Oak is the dominant tree in most of Britain, it can be found parks, gardens, deer parks, forests and woodland. The oak has male and female flowers on the same tree. Male flowers are on catkins and hang down, female flowers are small and red and located on short stalks called peduncles. Catkins release pollen in April and May and the red female flowers develop into acorns by autumn.
It will be interesting to see later in the year whether this is a mast year, when we get an abundance of acorns, as the trees send out as much potential new growth as possible.
