🎓 Course Tutor: Elder High Priestess Wort Moon (Academy Principal)

🎯 Level: Beginners onward 

🔑 Prerequisites: None 

🏆 Mastery Stream & Credits: Unaffiliated - 1 Credit 

📜 Course Description 

Step into the cauldron of colour with this enchanting self-paced course that blends the ancient art of natural dyeing with folk magick, herbal lore, and seasonal witchcraft. Whether you're an experienced spell-weaver or a curious kitchen witch, you'll learn how to create vivid, meaningful dyes from plants, food scraps, and garden herbs — all while deepening your connection to the turning of the Wheel.

Led by the warm and wise Elder High Priestess Wort Moon (witch, dyer, gardener, spinner of tales), this course invites you to awaken your hands, heart and spirit through the sacred craft of dyeing.

✨ By the end of the course, students will: 

• Understand the history, traditions, and spiritual significance of natural dyeing

• Identify common dye plants and understand their seasonal, magickal, and colour properties

• Safely prepare and use mordants, fixatives, and pH modifiers in dyeing

• Perform the full natural dyeing process: from fibre preparation to dye bath and finishing

• Explore colour as a tool for magickal intention, ritual, and seasonal alignment

• Create handmade inks for spellcraft, sigils, and grimoire work

• Develop sustainable, earth-honouring dyeing practices using kitchen scraps and local plants

📖 Course Modules: 

Lesson 1 - Welcome to the Dye Cauldron

Lesson 2 - The Spirit of Colour - Plant Allies & Lore

Lesson 3 - The Alchemy of the Cauldron

Lesson 4 - Colour of the Wheel - Dying for the Seasons

Lesson 5 - Sacred Cloth - Fibre & Fabric

Lesson 6 - Crafting With Colour

Lesson 7 - Nature’s Inks & Sigils

Lesson 8 - Potions & Pigment - Creating Your Dye Bath

📥 Course Access Requirements

To access this course, students will need a device (computer, tablet, or smartphone) that meets the Canvas system requirements.
👉 View system and browser requirements

You can also access your course on the go with the Canvas mobile app. From any device, students can:

• View lessons and grades

• Submit assignments

• Track progress with the built-in calendar and to-do list

• Send and receive messages

📚  Additional Resources 

Kitchen & Dyeing Gear

• Stainless steel or enamel pots (1–3, size depending on batch)

• Spoons or stirrers (wooden or stainless steel — avoid aluminium)

• Measuring cups or scales (for plant material and mordants)

• Jars or containers (glass or plastic, for soaking and storing dyes)

• Old sieve or muslin cloth (for straining dye baths)

• Tongs or old wooden spoon (to fish out fabric safely)

• Rubber gloves (unless you love rainbow-hued hands!)

• Apron or old clothes (dye has a mind of its own)

Fibres & Fabric

• Natural fabrics or fibres (cotton, linen, wool, silk)

• Fabric scraps or old pillowcases work beautifully for practice

• Optional: undyed yarn, cotton string, or muslin squares

Mordants & pH Ingredients

• Alum (aluminium sulphate) – most beginner-friendly mordant

• Iron (rusty nails in vinegar, or ferrous sulphate)

• White vinegar

• Baking soda

• Red cabbage (for pH magic activity!)

 Plant Material

• A variety of kitchen scraps and foraged or garden plants, such as:

  • Onion skins

  • Avocado skins/pits

  • Red cabbage

  • Spinach

  • Turmeric

  • Berries

  • Hibiscus tea

  • Madder root, marigold, or other dye herbs (optional)

Optional but Lovely

• Sketchbook, notebook, or journal – to make your Dye Grimoire

• Pins or thread – to attach swatches and notes

• Paintbrush or dip pen – for using your homemade inks

• Candle and herbs – for setting your intentions (magick optional, always welcome)

📝 Coursework & Submissions

This course includes a variety of thoughtfully crafted assignments to help you integrate and apply what you’ve learned.
Assignments are submitted through the Canvas platform and are evaluated based on:

• Clarity of expression

• Creativity and originality

• Understanding of the material

• Sincere effort and engagement
  
  

✍️ Coursework Load: Intensive

You can expect to spend around 4 + hours completing assignments, in addition to reading and reflection time.

🎓 Mastery Stream & Credit Information

🏠  House: Unaffiliated

🏆 Credits Earned: 1 

This credit counts toward progression through the Mastery Streams as part of our structured training and advancement system. To learn more about how credits contribute to initiation and elevation within the tradition, please visit our Initiation & Advancement page.

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