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Spring Allies: Charms, Spells, Divination, and Plant Magic; Part 1

by Keziah Zibelmann

Spring — a time associated with renewal, rebirth, awakening, and change, and a season best known for its wealth of greenery, buds, blossoms, and outdoor beauty. Much of that outdoor beauty is teeming with power and possibility, as spring brings a plethora of plant allies that can support and enhance one’s magical practices. With herbs known for their potent protective qualities, flowers said to be invaluable divinatory tools, and plants bringing in luck and money in abundance, even the most “common” and overlooked of springtime finds can be a boon to one’s witchery and magic.

This pieces aims to provide a collection of some of spring’s most powerful magical allies and the versatile ways in which they can be put to use in anyone’s magical craft.

BUTTERCUP

[WARNING: All species of buttercup are poisonous. Do no ingest and do not leave buttercups in an area where they can be ingested or accessed by children or animals. Buttercups are also known to cause dermatitis when handled, so handle with care and caution.]

Buttercup is associated with love, friendship, harmony and peace, and happiness, and can be used in any magical working surrounding these matters. They also bear some association with health and healing works, be that physical, mental, or emotional healing.

[Buttercups by Nik, 2025.]

FOR LOVE, FRIENDSHIP, & HARMONY:

Gifting a bouquet of buttercup flowers (or featuring buttercup flowers) can promote peace and harmony between the giver and the recipient.

Happening upon buttercup recently after starting a new relationship or starting to date someone is an omen of happiness to come and love growing between the parties involved.

To repair a damaged friendship or promote a last friendship, plant two buttercups side by side, naming them for each of the parties involved.

Growing buttercup on one’s property attracts peace and love to the home and its inhabitants.

FOR WISHING:

If one is lucky enough to catch buttercup just before blooming, one can make a wish on the buttercup flower. Wishes on buttercup should focus on matters of the heart and relationships, or on personal happiness and growth. The wish will bloom as the buttercup flower does.

FOR HEALTH:

If one has illness or disease in one’s home, planting buttercups on the property is believed to help attract healing and cast illness out.

Buttercup petals or whole flowers (please handle buttercup flowers safely and with caution, preferably with gloves, to avoid dermatitis) can be included in a sachet or bag charm for healing.

A bouquet of buttercups kept in a home where illness is taking root is said to prevent the illness from sticking around and lasting long.

My grandmother says that gifting buttercups to someone who is unwell “draws the sick back out of them” and promotes a speedy healing and recovery process. She says this can also be done by burying buttercups on that person's property.

Buttercups brighten, fighting back against depressive energies and promoting mental clarity and wellness. Therefore buttercups can be grown on the property of those who suffer with depression or have recently experienced loss, as a means of combating and warding against depression.

CHERRY BLOSSOM

[CAUTION: Cherry blossoms contain coumarin, which is potentially hepatotoxic. Handle with caution and care. Do not ingest cherry blossoms unless they have been properly prepared. It is much safer to buy professionally prepared, ready to use, pre-made cherry blossom products instead of attempting to make one's own.]

Cherry blossoms are particularly powerful allies for love magic, as well as for beauty and glamour magic.

[Cherry blossoms by David Brooke Martin, 2019]

FOR LOVE:

It is ideal to marry when the cherry blossoms are in bloom, considered an omen of a lasting partnership filled with happiness and love.

Sitting beneath a blossoming cherry tree with someone assures happiness between the parties. There is, though, some question as to how long the happiness is guaranteed – some say the happiness is assured for the duration of cherry blossom season, while others say the happiness is certain from that day on until the start of next year’s cherry blossom season.

Cherry trees growing on one’s property attract and promote love to the home whenever the blossoms are in bloom.

Burning cherry blossom incense while working love magic can give the working more oomph.

BEAUTY & GLAMOUR MAGIC:

Wearing cherry blossom soaps, lotions, creams, oils, or perfumes can be used in glamour and beauty magic to enhance beauty.

Burning cherry blossom incense whilst working glamour and beauty magic, or whilst dressing and getting ready for the day, further boosts beautifying magic.

DAFFODIL

[WARNING: All species of narcissus flowers are poisonous. They contain lycorine, a toxic crystalline alkaloid and are toxic to both people and animals. Please handle with caution and care. Do not ingest daffodil and never leave daffodil where it can be ingested or accessed by children or pets.]

Also known as asphodel, lent lily, and narcissus, daffodil can prove a useful ally in matters of luck, love, prosperity, and fertility.

[Yellow daffodils in spring by Yoksel Zok, 2020]

FOR CLEANSING:

It’s said that daffodils can clear out and ward off negative energies, as well as attract positive energies, happiness, and love into their space.

Daffodils are often seen as symbols of new beginnings. Incorporating daffodils in one’s space, such as on one’s altar or magical work area, whilst one is clearing out old feelings or energies serves as a symbol of newness, but the daffodils also boost one’s cleansing work while they’re at it.

FOR LUCK & PROSPERITY:

Bouquets or tussie-mussies of yellow daffodils bring fortune, wealth, and good luck with money into a place where work is to be done or creative endeavors are carried out, such as an office, studio, or cubicle.

Having a bouquet of daffodils in the home is believed to draw luck into the home. Some sources specify further that the bouquet should contain no less than thirteen daffodils [1].

Carrying a daffodil flower in one’s pocket, purse, or on one’s person is believed to attract good luck. When the daffodil is kept in a shirt pocket near one’s heart, that luck is believed to be even stronger.

Growing daffodils on one’s property can draw luck into one’s home and life, and increase already existing good luck significantly.

FOR LOVE & FERTILITY:

Gifting someone daffodil flowers or a bouquet featuring daffodil can promote feelings of love between you and that person.

To attract love into your life and home, plant daffodils on your property.

For those seeking a boost in fertility, bringing fresh daffodils into the bedroom and keeping them near the bed, such as on the nightstand, is believed to help in boosting fertility and virility.

Featuring daffodils in one’s bridal bouquet is said to assure children will soon follow the marriage.

OTHER:

Daffodils growing in the wild are said to be indicators of a sacred place [2], and some sources say they have associations with fae folk [3]. Due to this, it can be ideal to work magic in an area where wild daffodils are growing, particularly if one works with fae in their practice.

Daffodils also, though more commonly in ancient European cultures than nowadays, bear associations with death and underworld realms [4]. They are still sometimes used as grave flowers. Thus, daffodils can be an ideal plant ally for magical practitioners who work with death or with spirits or deities associated with death or the underworld.

DANDELION

Ah, dandelion. There are plenty of folkloric associations and uses for dandelion, and they’re most commonly known for folk divination customs and wishing spells, but they can absolutely be put to other uses in one’s magical practice.

[Dandelions by Viridi Green, 2020]

FOR DIVINATION:

Dandelion tea can be ingested before or during the practice of psychic and divinatory arts. Doing so is said to boost one’s psychic abilities and aid in such work.

To the same end, placing dandelions in one’s bath is said to enhance one’s psychic gifts [5].

Some say [6] that one can tell how many years they have left in life by blowing on a dandelion during its peak puffball stage. Blow the fluff and count the seeds left attached after doing so. The number of seeds are said to be the number of years you have left to live. Scott Cunningham, in Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs, takes this further to allegedly calculate the hour of one’s death. He says one can do so by blowing ‘three times at the seed head. The number [of seeds left] is the hour.’

FOR PROTECTION:

Drinking dandelion tea before sleep can keep nightmares at bay.

Likewise, keeping fresh dandelions at one’s bedside wards off nightmares and restless sleep.

To have an abundance of dandelions growing on one’s property is to have magical protection from malevolent forces and spirit foes.

Carrying a dandelion as a charm or token can grant protection from bad luck, negative energy, and malicious magical works sent one's way.

FOR BLESSINGS, FERTILITY, & HEALTH:

Dandelions can attract blessings, peace, and joy. Having them grow on one’s property is believed to be a blessing.

Bringing dandelion root into the home brings joy, blessings, abundance, and peace with it. One can include dandelion root in container spells for blessings, sachets and bag charms, and in wards

Dandelion root is also a symbol of fertility and can be included in any fertility charm or working.

Keeping a dandelion root underneath one’s bed will boost fertility.

FOR WISHING:

Dandelions are commonly used for making wishes, which is possibly their best known use. To do so, the dandelion must be in its puffball phase. Puck the dandelion, make your wish, and blow the dandelion fluff, sending the wish out into the universe with the fluffs that float away.

GROUND IVY

[CAUTION: Although ground ivy is used by humans for culinary and herbal medicinal purposes, it can be toxic to some animals. Please do not leave ground ivy where it can be ingested or accessed by any pets, cattle, or livestock.]

Also commonly called alehoof, gill-go-over-the-ground, lizzy-run-up-the-hedge, and field balm, ground ivy is well known as a divinatory ally, but also has some protection powers to lend.

[Ground Ivy by Ivar Leidus - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0]

FOR DIVINATION:

According to Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs [7], one can discover the source of negative magic sent one’s way or worked against them by placing ground ivy at the base of a yellow candle on a Tuesday. Burn the candle fully. After this is done, the source of the negative or malicious work will soon be revealed by dream, vision, or by someone revealing it in conversation.

FOR PROTECTION:

Ground ivy can be a protective ally for those who delve into realms of divination where they may be coming in contact with malevolent or disruptive energies or entities. Keeping ground ivy on one’s work space whilst divining, or, even better, keeping it on one’s person, can offer protection from energies and entities that could harm one or cling to one.

See Spring Allies; Part 2 (coming soon!) for more!

CITATIONS, SOURCES, & FURTHER READING:

NOTE: Some of the works featured in this piece come from beliefs relevant to the area I was born in and live in now, and some of it was taught to me by my grandparents. See the citations below for specific books some works can be found in, and see the sources and further read section for even more books in which these plants and their magical uses and folkloric associations can be found.

Citations:

[1] The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Magical Plants: A Practical Guide to Creating Healing, Protection, and Prosperity using Plants, Herbs, and Flowers (2008) - Gregg, Susan

[2] Plant Witchery: Discover the Sacred Language, Wisdom and Magic of 200 Plants (2020) - Diaz, Juliet

[3] 110 Magical Flowers and How to Use Them [https://www.celebratepaganholidays.com/rituals/110-magical-flowers-and-how-to-use-them]

[4] Compendium of Symbolic and Ritual Plants in Europe: Vol. II Herbs (2002) - De Cleene, Marcel & Lejeune, Marie Claire

[5] Magical Folkhealing: Herbs, Oils, and Recipes for Health, Healing, and Magic (2018) - Conway, DJ

[6], [7] Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs (1985) - Cunningham, Scott

Sources & Further Reading:

A Curious Herbal - Blackwell, Elizabeth

Backwoods Witchcraft: Conjure & Folk Magic from Appalachia - Richards, Jake

Bilder ur Nordens Flora - Lindman, C.A.M.

The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Magical Plants: A Practical Guide to Creating Healing, Protection, and Prosperity using Plants, Herbs, and Flowers - Gregg, Susan

Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs - Cunningham, Scott

Doctoring the Devil: Notebooks of an Appalachian Conjure Man - Richards, Jake

Elsevier's Dictionary of Plant Lore - Watts, D.C.

Köhler’s Medizinal-Pflanzen - Köhler, Hermann Adolph

Magical Folk Healing - Conway, DJ

the Master Book of Herbalism - Beyerl, Paul

Plant Witchery: Discover the Sacred Language, Wisdom and Magic of 200 Plants - Diaz, Juliet

Sticks, Stones, Roots & Bones: Hoodoo, Mojo & Conjure with Herbs - Bird, Stephanie Rose

The Treadwell's Book of Plant Magic - Oakley Harrington, Christina