i was thinking about your post about incorporating snails into our practice during a walk on the lakeside, and i happened upon 5 tiny snail shells washed up on the shoreline. they're too small and damaged to use to make Gwarch, and i was wondering if you would mind sharing more suggestions for including them in our Work?
There are certainly ways to incorporate damaged shells into practice, though they can be slightly more labor-intensive. For instance, one thing that Ido when we find snail shells that are too damaged for stringing or Gwarch-making is crush them into a dust. I am currently in the process of steadily collecting snail shell fragments for use in a basic Luck Powder I've come to call ‘Dodman's Dust’, which I can share here.
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Crush a number of freely given snail shells using a mortar and pestle. Some snail shells, particularly of the marine variety, are harder to powder than their terrestrial counterparts, so I suggest using a sieve to separate the harder bits from the more easily crushable material of need be. Once you have gathered an amount of snail shell powder you deem sufficient, place it somewhere auspicious (ideally, within a garden) and move on to the next steps.
On the night of the Full Moon, locate a fern plant that is sporulating. With most varieties, you can find small orange bumps of some kind lining the underside of leaves, which house the spores. Using a Hazel Rod, thoroughly scrape and shake these bumps to release the “Fern Dust,” allowing it to collect within a pewter dish. Once you have gathered a sufficient amount of Fern Dust, thank the fern and take the spores you’ve collected with you.
On that same night of the Full Moon, particularly under the auspices of Jupiter when possible, mix equal parts of the Fern Dust and Snail Shell Powder, adding one pinch of Hearth Ash , while reciting:
“By the fecund Moon that illumines the Night,
I ask the receipt of the Snail and the Fern;
That I might walk on a prosperous path,
With the wisdom of ease and the cunning of growth.
Conclude with a sealing call of power and use it thereafter as a Luck Powder, to aid you in achieving success and/or avoiding trouble in a pinch. Sprinkle it on the shoes of a loved one who is going on a big trip; scatter it over the envelope containing a job application; dust your throat and forehead with it before going in for a presentation you’re nervous about; etc.