Vital information for your everyday life
When making an ointment, an oil, or anything similar, use glass pans/pots/bowls and a wooden spoon. Despite our beautiful history of cauldron brewing, hot metals can damage the oils in plants.
All homemade ointments start out the same: Use a grease base and dried plant materials. Dried plants are preferred. The ointment-making process draws the oils from the plants and this is harder to do if the plants are fresh.
For a basic ointment (not one that includes poisonous plants), use a ratio of four units of grease to one unit of plants. Note this is a rule of thumb for a scented magical ointment and NOT THE RATIOS FOR FLYING OINTMENTS. I will not be providing nightshade dosing ratios here. Don’t ask.*
You can use lard, vegetable shortening (ie Crisco), beeswax, or petroleum as a base for an ointment. Lard is traditional. Shortening is easier to work with and is vegetarian. Beeswax is also classic and feels more cosmetic than lard or shortening (they’re quite greasy). Petroleum is fucking awful not something I have ever used.
If you plan to use lard or shortening, all you need to do is heat it in a glass pan or double boiler until it melts. Then add the herbs and let it simmer at medium heat until the herbs have given their oils to the ointment. This takes about 10 minutes once the fat has melted and the air will smell strongly of herbs when this is done. Let it cool slightly and pour into a jar.
I like to let my herbs sit in the ointment for a period of time, maybe a lunar month. Then I heat the jar in a crockpot with water, pour through a cheesecloth into a bowl, then back into the jar.
If you are using beeswax, you may use essential oils and add them directly to the melted wax. Remember to use essential oil safety! Melt the beeswax on the stove in a double boiler. When melted, add an equal amount of olive oil or another similar oil to the beeswax. Let this cool a bit (you don’t want to damage the essential oils or have them burn off), then add the essential oils. Put the ointment in a jar and you’re good to go.
If you are using beeswax and want to use dried herbs, you should start with a lard base. Beeswax does not seem to work as well with dried herbs as other forms of grease, but it is cosmetic and easy on the skin.
For this method, melt a quantity of lard on the stove. Pour in the herbs and let it sit as described in the previous section. This should be more concentrated than the 4:1, grease:plant ratio. Strain the herbs from the lard.
Take a quantity of beeswax (preferably unbleached). Add the concentrated lard mixture to the beeswax. The ratio should be 1 ounce beeswax:1 cup of melted lard. Let this all melt in a double boiler. When completely melted, put in a jar.
When you are done with your ointment, regardless of its composition, there are a few ways to make it last longer.
Keep it in a cool, dry place obviously. Keeping it in the fridge will make it last longer.
As it is starting to set, you may want to add a few drops of tincture of benzoin. It is a natural antiseptic, can be purchased in many pharmacies, and will slow mold growth.
*if you poison yourself with any of the information provided on here, I am not liable. That’s what you get for getting your information from some dude you don’t know on Tumblr.
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