Set up protective barriers with a banishing salt made with alder charcoal and blackthorn. With its sharp thorns, blackthorn is a hedgerow tree that not many are brave enough to cross. Alder is found growing along watery borders, and when cut, its light wood turns a reddish orange. This gives the impression that the tree bleeds, linking it to war and the supernatural.

With the addition of protective bay and star anise seed, this salt is perfect to sprinkle around doorways or property boundaries and to use in banishing rituals. You will need:

• Mortar and pestle
• 1 teaspoon alder charcoal, crushed (available online)
• ½ cup sea salt
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 star anise pod
• 3 blackthorn thorns (available online)

Using a mortar and pestle, crush the alder charcoal to make 1 teaspoon of powder, and mix with the salt. Crush the bay leaf and remove the seeds from the points of the star anise pod. Add both the crushed bay and the anise seeds to your salt mixture. Add the three blackthorn thorns and store the salt mixture in a glass jar.