AVAILABLE NOW THIS IS AN INTERMEDIARY CLASS. If you are just beginning your work with baneful herbs I recommend my SATURNIAN HERBS AND POISON PLANT ALLIES WORKSHOP. POISON PLANT FORMULARY is a two-part live course focused understanding the chemical composition of baneful herbs and how to safely and effectively use them in formulas for spiritual practice. The first part will focus on the chemical composition of specific plants and the effects those chemicals have on the human physiology. The second part will be focused on which herbs are best suited to specific preparation processes including extraction processes, and making oils, ointments etc. After this course one will have an understanding of how to safely and effectively begin working with baneful herbs by providing tools for further exploration. I hope everyone is having a splendid holiday season! The shop is semi shut down for the time being with the exception of recorded classes and e books. I will be making a few specialty items available over the next few weeks and will be reopening full at the end of January. Link in bio #poisonpath #banefulherbs #veneficium #flyingointments #witchesointments #esotericherbalism #spagyricalchemy #plantalchemy #flyingointments #entheigens #nightshades #poisonpath #darkherbalism #occultherbalism #witchcraft #herbmagic #entheogens https://www.instagram.com/p/CJRaX4YnH0I/?igshid=mq2bjipx4nbq
Apologies for the delay, but apparently my ask box went a little haywire and I just saw your messages beneath a follow up one I answered a while back, so I have no idea which article you're referring to 😅
As far as increasing dosages and not feeling any difference, it could be a couple things: Your body processes the chemicals/botanicals efficiently and fast, so even increasing amount, you don't notice a difference because it's being pushed out of your system quickly.
Another possibility is a natural resistance to whatever you're using! This would come down to a biological pre-disposition to resistance. It may be the plant (especially if it's native to your culture) and your genetics have "come to an agreement" if it were and your body won't have dramatic reactions to the chemicals due to that resistance. Alternatively, it could be because the delivery system isn't compatible with your acid mantle. It just won't absorb in the medium its applied. I can't give you a for sure answer, but those are the most likely!
As far as animal fat being better for distilling plant material, there is a yes and no side to that! While it's better for transfering the plant matter to your skin, each plant varies in what medium can extract the most of the botanical. Vinegar work better for some plants than others. Some are better in a grain alcohol, while others will become cloudy because the proteins released aren't compatible. Water of course is used a lot, and then there's glycerin which works for some and not for others (congealing mess if they plant doesn't want to absorb).
I adore Corinne Boyer, and I'm so excited for the rest of her plant series to come out! The Witching Tree is a great book, but I can't wait to see what she chooses for herbs for the next one.
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For people being obsessed with the poison path, I think it's the natural course for a lot of witches. It's that "dark and mysterious" part of magic that parallels what may have brought them to witch craft in the first place. It’s the next exciting prospect, the next adventure, now navigable because of the knowledge gained in the first place.
But people have always had a fascination with poisons and plants. The same plant that helps heart disease when processed in a lab, can kill a person who eats it raw. Plants we eat regularly, holding secrets if you eat the wrong part, or eat at the wrong time. Poisonous plant and dangerous plants hold our fascination because they mirror us as people. At times, beautiful, with the potential to do great things, but also destructive.
For intoxication and people being obsessed with them for those reasons, well…that’s life. Some people want to chase the impossible, the grass is always greener on the other side.
It may seem hypocritical that I make ointments that, in some cases, give that “head change” but I make them as part of my practice. It’s my communing with the plants in a different form that most people don’t experience. The actual process of making them is an intense one, because it is a part of my faith and tradition. I use it to enhance my practice at times, but I don’t use it for everything.
Here’s a quote from Harold Roth’s book: The Witching Herbs
“Witches don’t need chemicals to fly, or communicate with plant spirits. To do those things (and many others), you only need patience, skill, and the grace of the spirits…Are we so jaded and so unsure of our magical abilities and those of the spirit world that we think we can only have magical experiences while high? We need to have more faith in our abilities as witches than that.”
For my personal practice, and whether or not I smoke or cook with the plants I work with…the short answer is yes. But I won’t go in to details. It’s my personal practice, and though I share a lot here, I don’t share everything, especially the depth of my relationships with my plants and my workings.
As far as the church, inventing flying ointments, that’s a trickier question which I already touched on here.
