There are several methods of creating your own bath preparations to avoid the high costs of commercial bath mixtures. Making your own herbal bath bag or bath salts will also personalize your blend, and will make great gifts for the holidays. You can use a mixture of your favorite dried herbs, or add essential oils to rock sea salts or a mixture of Epsom salts and baking soda. Color may be added to your bath salt preparations enhance the atmosphere in your tub.

Use one of these recipes which sample each of the above methods and then lay back, relax, and enjoy!

Fill a muslin pouch with a blend of dried herbs. Empower the bag with your magickal intent if you wish and let steep in a large pot of boiled water for 10 minutes. This is like a tea bag for your tub! Add contents of pot, herb bag and all to running bath water. Always be sure to check the water temperature before entering the bath to avoid scalding yourself. If you do not have a muslin pouch available, a square piece of cotton cloth or a washcloth may be used as a substitute. Place herbs in the middle of cloth, fold up the four corners, and tie a piece of string tightly enough to hold all of the herb inside.

Mix equal parts of lavender, chamomile and parsley. This mixture is great for your skin and parsley is said to help clear out clogged pores.

A mixture of two parts Epsom salts and one part baking soda is the base for these bath salts. You can use food coloring to create beautiful hues in your bath. Add coloring one drop at a time to the Epsom salt/baking soda mixture and blend with a fork until desired shade is achieved. To create mixed shades like purple, mix the two colors in a spoon before adding to your bath salts to avoid a two-toned effect, unless this is what you’d like. (I personally think it looks great!) Allow colored salts to air dry for an hour or so and add essential oils, one drop at a time until the fragrance is just strong enough. A general rule of thumb is no more than ten drops of essential oil per cup of salts. These may also be empowered, if desired and used right away, or stored in an airtight container. Add about half a cup to running bath water. You may need to swirl the salts around with your hands to help them fully dissolve. If you use expensive essential oils, such as jasmine and rose, it is wise to add all other ingredients first, then add a drop or two of the precious oil just before entering the tub.

Coarse grade sea salt can be found in most supermarkets and health food stores near the table salt. Food coloring may be added if desired, but a lovely alternative is to leave the salts white and add dried herbs to the mixture. I saw salts like this for sale at an up scale apothecary shop and I had to try it at home! The same rule of thumb applies to sea salts, use no more than 10 drops of essential oil for each cup of salt. You may need to swirl these around in running bath water to be sure they fully dissolve as well. No one likes a gritty bath!