Witch’s black salt is simple but powerful magic. Not to be confused with the black salt used in Indian cuisine or with Hawaiian volcanic black salt, witch’s salt is made in a variety of ways, most involving ashes, or scrapings from cast iron, or both. As with all the magic I make, I love to call my plant allies into the process of making black salt.

The day I made this particular batch, I started by burning protective herbs in my favorite cauldron. The wind came up while they burned, billows of smoke pouring from the cauldron and enveloping me. The smoke stung my eyes, but I took it as a sign that I needed a good smoke purification and just let it happen. Bending over the fire and murmuring my incantation, I felt the energy gathering in the cauldron: this black salt wanted to be made, needed to be made. As a witch, I live for these moments of rightness, when I feel perfectly clear about what needs to be done.

When the herbs had burned to ash, and the fire was out, I ground the ashes into a fine powder, once again speaking my intentions over the the mortar and pestle as I worked. Then I returned the ashes to the cauldron, along with finely ground charcoal disks that had broken and could no longer be used in my censer.

I poured sea salt from the Pacific Northwest coast into the cauldron, and used a wooden spoon to stir the ashes and salt together.

Then I spent a good long time using the wooden spoon to scrape the salt along the sides and bottom of the cauldron to pick up more of the blackened ash and trace amounts of iron for a final boost of protective magic.

This is potent stuff, humming with powerful protective energy. The process was involved, but it was the kind of focused work that always leaves me feeling simultaneously grounded and energized. I spent the rest of the day feeling almost indestructible.

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