Nettle, Rose, and the Rising Sap is a beauty potion spell: a green herbal draught you brew overnight and drink at first light, taken by the cupful across a season of mornings to feed a clear, well-lived glow from within. As the old still-room wisdom held, a clear face is fed as much from the inside as it is tended from without. This green draught is beauty taken by the cupful, at the hour the world begins again.
Correspondences for This Spell
- Colours: pink and green, the Venusian pairing, with deep rose
- Herbs: rose and myrtle, sacred to Aphrodite, and lavender — echoed here by the potion’s own nettle, rosehip, and mint
- Crystal: rose quartz and jade
- Day: Friday
- Planet: Venus
- Element: Water
- Moon: the waxing moon, to draw beauty toward you
For the fuller table of associations, see the correspondences guide.
What You Will Need
- A clean bowl, kept for this work and no other
- Dried nettle and rosehip, with a fresh sprig of mint
- Cool, clean water to steep them overnight
- A spoon of honey to stir in at dawn
- A window facing east, where the first light will find you
The Best Time to Cast
Cast at dawn, as the working itself instructs, for this is a draught of beginnings and the waking body drinks it best. Set the steeping the night before and rise before the sun. If you can begin on a Friday, so much the better, for Friday belongs to Venus, who rules beauty and the tending of the self. Start on the new or early waxing moon and drink each dawn as the moon fills, so that your intention grows as its light grows, and read the glass by the full.
The Working
- The night before, set dried nettle, rosehip, and a sprig of mint to steep in cool water beneath the window.
- Rise before the sun and strain the green water into a clean bowl.
- Warm it gently, never to a boil, and stir in a spoon of honey while facing the paling east.
- As the first light breaks, speak the incantation over the rising steam.
- Drink it slow and warm, letting each mouthful be a small vow to your own keeping.
- Repeat each dawn through the waxing moon, and mark how the glass answers you by the full.
The Incantation
Green of the nettle, red of the hip,
rise in the blood and rest on the lip.
Sap of the morning, climb in me,
clear as the dew on the waking tree.
Bloom where the first light finds my face,
health be my beauty, health my grace.
Variations & Substitutions
- No nettle to hand? Dried raspberry leaf or oatstraw stands in as a gentle, mineral-rich tonic herb with the same nourishing intent.
- Prefer it cool? Skip the warming and drink the infusion cold-steeped straight from beneath the window, fitting for the Water element and high-summer dawns.
- Honey off-limits? A few drops of rosewater carry the same Venusian sweetness and lean the draught further toward rose’s own correspondence.
A Word on Intent
This is beauty magic turned inward, and that is its safeguard. An it harm none, do what ye will: the Rede asks that we work no harm, and a spell for one’s own health and grace harms no one. Do not bend it to command another’s eye or to force admiration where it is not freely given. Drink instead to honour the body you keep, and let the shine be the honest kind that good living lends a face.
Related Beauty Spells
Keep this draught faithfully from new moon to full, then return to the Grimoire and your own Book of Shadows to record how the glass answered you.