Essential Oils vs Infused Oils
Essential oils: extracted, making these oils more potent, concentrated, and expensive.
Infused oils: created when plant matter is soaked (or infused) within an inexpensive oil base.
Method 1: Infusion via shaking
Put your chosen herbs in a clean, dry quart jar, leaving 1-3 inches for the oil.
Fill the jar the rest of the way with oil of your choosing. The herbs need to be submerged, so cover them by >1 inch. If they rise to the surface just add more oil. They need to be covered completely
Cover the jar tightly and shake it very well, for at least a minute.
Leave the jar out near a window sill or wherever is bright and warm for about 4 weeks(2-6), shaking once a day in the same manner.
Remember, for the magick to become truly infused with the mixture, do all of this with intent! Especially the shaking, and straining! If you’d like though, every time you see it and remember to (before it’s time to strain), repeat your intentions to yourself in your head
Strain the herbs! You can do this using a special cloth of your choosing or with just a strainer, but make sure to get out as much of the oil as you possibly can!
After this, you can separate the mixture into multiple labeled jars or just one motherload of a jar for the ultimate stash! Be careful with this though, as it may be easier to spill or drop this way and you’d end up loosing all of it if that happened!
When you label the jars, date them!! They can only be kept and be good for about a year! With this in mind, you may want to cleanse at least the outside of the jar every month or so, but this is sort of a given for any ingredients and you can totally just wait and only cleanse them again before you need to do something with them. Also when labeling, label the type of oil along with the herb!!! Adding Vitamin E, however, can make it last longer, even two years if done correctly!
When storing, keep it in a dark, cool place!
Method 2: Infusion via heat
In a crock pot or double broiler at 100° and 140° F for at least 1 to 5 hours (72 hours on lower heat - 100 ° F), place the herbs and oil in the pot with the same rule of the herbs needing to be submerged in the oil completely.
Turn off the heat and allow it to cool
After this, do the same steps listed in the previous method starting at step 6! :)
Method 3: Infusion via alcohol
Weigh out approximately 1 oz. of your dried herb or herbs. None of the herbs before this method should be dried.
Using some sort of blender (coffee grinder, bullet grinder, etc.) and grind into coarse powder. Coarse being the key word, as it cannot be too fine a powder or else it won’t strain very well later on.
Transfer the herbs into a clean, dry jar with tight fitting lid. Then measure out 1/2 oz. whole grain alcohol or vodka and pour it into the jar; using a fork or shaking to mix it all together. The consistency should be similar to soil or wet sand from the beach
Set this mixture aside for 24 hours, using the method I mentioned to help the mixture retain it’s intentions
Put the mixture into a blender and add approximately 8 oz. of carrier oil, measured by volume or weight. (Add more as necessary to cover everything well and ensure the herbs are blending correctly) Blend this mix for 5 minutes or until the blender itself is warm to the touch
Once it’s done, strain and follow steps 6-9 again
Oils that can be used for this
Coconut oil, Extra virgin olive oil, Sunflower oil, Peanut oil, and Grape seed oil are some options! Make sure your oil is fresh before using, check the expiration date!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4HoZTPoq_g
https://www.hgtv.com/design/make-and-celebrate/handmade/healing-herbs-learn-to-make-infused-oils-and-balms
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmY3unVhIbU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU88n1FcJa4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INykP25N2SQ
https://theherbalacademy.com/alcohol-intermediary-herb-infused-oils/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBemR9--yWQ
https://blog.mountainroseherbs.com/making-herbal-oils
https://theherbalacademy.com/herb-infused-oils/
