Powders, salts, ashes, dusts and dirts- What's the difference?
Although from the outside they may all look fairly similar, there are different ways to use all of the blends above.
Here, we'll talk a little bit about the ways each ones are used. Of course, there's always going to be an exception to the rule out there somewhere, but this should be enough to get you started. Of course, if you mix these things with other ingredients, it will alter the way they work.
The differences- cliff notes edition.
These different types of blends are traditional recipes or techniques passed down from Scottish, Kentish and Cambridgeshire Canting roots. Although they may have some similar names to blends of other traditions- as many folk traditions have similar concerns- they are used in different ways.
Powders- Can be used as a Projective blend, can be used on people, places, objects and spirits. These can do the work for you and on you. Allied to Fire & Earth.
Salts- Can be asked to mimic other spirits, and are passive or absorbing in nature. These can do the work for you and on you. Can be dissolved in water for different effects. Allied to Earth & Water.
Ashes- Projective blend that works with things past. Good for enchanting objects and spirit working. Not good for working with people, better for sorcery. Allied to the Fire courts.
Dirts- A blend created from those that come before. Physical dirt and some herbs. Good for rooting a practice. Slow acting, but very powerful and good for spirit working. Allied to the Earth courts.
Dust- Travelling magic- can go further then dirts, salts and powders. Can physically follow targets to other locations without a specific 'tag' necessary. Created from pollens, different herbs and occasionally location based materia. Allied to the Air courts.
Sometimes due to colloquialisms, the names for certain blends do alter and change over time. Sometimes things are called a powder when they've got dirt in, and sometimes salts are included in powders. Very often these ingredients are all used for specific purposes- so when in doubt, ask the practitioner what the ingredients are charmed for and how to use it.
Powders, Salts, Ash, Dusts and Dirts- what's the difference?
Powders
We have both Magical and Devotional Powders.
Herbs or other physical materials will be the higher concentrations in the powders, but can have ash, dusts, dirts and salts contained within it.
Powders are allied to the Earth and Fire courts. This means that they are quick acting and very location based- in other words you'll need something to attach these spirits to a person or space. This can be done by placing the powder on another person or in their space, or by bringing something from the person or their space to the powder. (Or by using some sort of tag so that the spirits know how to identify the target) Powders are hard to shift once cast. The herbs and other ingredients know how to access the powers you need. Make sure you give them a little direction for what you need those powers for.
For our devotional powders, these work in much the same way. The ingredients work within the same currents of the Deity or Spirit. They're also hard to shift, and quick acting. These already contain the 'tag', if you will, of the deity in question, so there's no need to find something else of theirs to include.
Dirts
Dirts are created from actual dirt found from a specific place. This could be the graveyard, a hawthorn bush, church, crossroads, courthouse, a spring, police station, corpse roads, running roads, hospital, the ground beneath a 'hanged man', or fertile dirt. (Different sands and clays are also counted) This dirt may then be mixed in with herbs or occasionally ashes. It sources it's power from location- the spirits of the place.
So the spirits of the dead congregate around graveyard dirt. Spirits of Abundance and debt congregate around Bank dirt. Spirits of the Liminal and the Fair folk congregate around Hawthorn dirt. Malicious and angry spirits congregate around Hanged Mans Dirt.
You use a dirt to link the working at hand to the spirit contained within the dirt. Herbs are a way to fine tune the dirt. Abundance dirt, for example, is Bank Dirt, or Dirt from a Stately Home mixed with herbs to cut out the spirits that linger due to debt.
Dirts are good for rooting a practice to a location. Ultimately, their powers can not travel far- they need you to do the traveling. You need to take the dirt to a person, or a place. Or you need something of the person or place to bring back to your dirt. (Or a tag for the person in some way)
They're slow acting but powerful and truly excellent for spirit working.
Allied to the Earth courts.
Ash
Ash blends are made from the ashes of various plants, mixed in occasionally with a pinch of salt, eggshell or herbs. Ash blends are the best type of blend to use for spirit work. They connect directly to transformation magic, and magic from the past. This means that they have greater application in sorcery rather than in magic.
Ash blends are known to be projective blend, they go and cause change by affecting things, rather than by being receptive. They're excellent to use in candle rituals and water rituals.
Ash blends are excellent for long distance work, as well as some of the darker works.
Salt
Salt blends have salt as their main constituent. Salt blends may have natural oils in, herbs, and occasionally powders such as egg shell powder. One of the most underused aspects of Salt is the fact that salt spirits can mimic other spirits. This is because of the way they absorb energy. Salt crystals can learn and adapt. They take in the energy and currents of other things and can project it back out. Not necessarily in a way that's quite as powerful as other spirits, nor will salt necessarily have that inter-spirit relationship that you need for great works of sorcery, but it'll do in a pinch.
Salt is a useful rooting blend- it can pin magick to a location in a similar way to dirts. Unlike dirts, salts have a greater ability to move magick, location wise- this is because of their affinity to water.
Salt is also naturally a cleanser, and so many spells that call for salt in which have a naturally purifying after effect. This can be useful if you want to make sure that no negativity follows your spellwork. For a cursing salt, a salt needs to be mixed with the right types of ashes. This is so the salt mimics the ashes. This gives the ash/salt blend a good combination of a projective blend that is both sorcerous and magical in application.
Dust
Dust is the blend you want for travelling magick. The sort of magick that will relentlessly follow somebody from place to place even when you don't have something of theirs to attach it to. This is because Dusts are formed from the element of Air, and the travel on the wind. Their magic can travel further than the powders, dirts, ashes and salts!
Dust is created from dust, pollens, petals, location based materials and different herbs. Dust is a projective blend, it works on you and for you. It has to be light enough to hang in the air if separated properly and blown.
A good example of to different types of dust is Red Brick Dust- a type of traditional recipe used primarily in Folk magic for education and wealth, and Straw Dust- used for spirit travelling.
