Black Poppy, Flower of Ease, Opium Poppy, Papaver somniferum
This flower of the night-ways only blooms for a short while before turning into a bulbous ovary upon a stem full of bitter, white blood, characterizing its Lunar properties. This blood can be cultivated for its vision inducing properties. She is the Maiden in the Field, the Severed Head of St John, the Queen of Nightly Visions.
Black poppy (the picture shown is a variety of black poppy from my own garden) was in pagan Greece and Rome associated with more Chthonic deities, such as Hekate, Hypnos, Nix, Thanatos, and Somnus (from which we get the word somniferum). The drug which is extracted from Poppy, Opium (as well as other narcotics, such as morphine and codeine) has a narcotic, stupefying effect akin to a dreaming sleep. Opium became a very popular drug prior to the first World War. A tea made from the dried flowers was used to suppress coughs, and the pods were sometimes made into a tea as a mild alternative to smoking the opium tears.
We know that humans have been using Opium for its medicinal effects for a very long time, evinced of the fact that the Greeks would make it into a potent wine, Vinum opii, as well as as a suppository and fumigant, but there is evidence that it was cultivated as far back as the Neolithic era. The Ebers Papyrus (1550 BCE) lists its use as “Remedy to prevent the excessive crying of children”. It was also used to ease the pangs of childbirth, a very early anesthetic. It was also used, naturally, for its more recreational uses. Opium is a powerful (and highly addictive) psychoactive, and has been used as a visionary plant for both ritual and mundane use for ages. There is evidence that the juice of the plant was used in recipes for flying ointment along with hemlock, belladonna, and the feared mandrake.
Place poppy leaves on hot coals and read the flames.
Scatter poppy seeds on burning coals, and listen for the voice of prophecy.
As a Lunar plant, the plant is sacred to Our Lady of the Night Ways, such as Hekate, Lilith, Black Anna, and Diana. Cakes sprinkled with the toasted seeds of Poppy may be offered unto Her and Her host of night flying beings. The seeds can also be ground up into an incense and combined with other herbs such as myrrh, mullein, red sandalwood as an offering to the Witchmother. The plant can also be used in dream work. Harold Roth gives an excellent use of the dried pods to make into little “charm bags”. The pods dry naturally on the Poppy’s long stalks, and can then be plucked therefrom (the seeds may be saved, and toasted for cooking, or scattered about for the next crop, or saved for magical work; Schulke lists that the seeds can be scattered upon the enemy’s property to cause confusion) and anointed with various oils and filled with fragrant herbs according to the spell made. If one were making a dreaming bag, one may use Chamomile, Clary Sage, Mugwort, and Hops. The flowers might also be steeped in wine, along with Cinnamon and Cloves, and taken as a tincture (a few drops only).
This Italian spell can be adapted to any type of prophetic dream, not merely one concerned with matters of love.
Make a hole in a poppy pod and empty out the seeds. Now fold up a small piece of paper with the question you want answered written on it, insert it in the pod, and place it under your pillow last thing at night, saying these words:
‘In nome del cielo, delle stelle, della luna!
Fate mi face il sogno secondo…’
‘In the name of heaven, the stars, and the moon
May I dream, and that full soon,
If this I see [name your wish].’
If you dream of your wish, it’s sure to come true.
~(Mastering Witchcraft, Huson)
As Poppy has these chthonic connections with gods of the dead, such as Thanatos, and Hekate, the flowers can also be used to honor the dead. We see this today in Canada where a Red Poppy Flower is the symbol of Memorial Day. We get this tradition from the poem “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
The flowers and seeds may be burned, or offered in some other way to the spirits of the dead. Harold Roth in his book The Witching Herbs gives a recipe for Chthonic Cakes for the dead which are not to be consumed by the living, but rather burned on coals like an incense.
Papaver Chthonios Cakes for the Dead
4 oz ground myrrh
A few tablespoons of dark red wine
¼ cup dark honey
1 oz black poppy seeds
Dampen the myrrh with some red wine and let sit in a closed jar overnight. Boil the honey to remove the water. The honey will foam, so don’t let it overboil, it’s terrible to clean up. Add the poppy seeds. Cook the honey and seeds for a bit, then pour over the myrrh and mix well. Before the mixture cools too much, form the mix into little crescent moons. Dry on a low heat, but not in the sun. Burn them on a charcoal tab as an offering to the dead.
Care need be taken with the Poppy plant. She is the Maiden in the Field. You will sleep under Her; sleep too long and you will surely die. Many men have fallen under Her influence, never to wake from their glorious dreams. She caresses our throats, and whispers into our ears; we do not even notice that She is slowly choking us, so entranced are we by the stories She tells us. Be wary of this Lunar flower. She is as deadly and gentle as the goddess who rules Her.
