#herbal work

[neptunes-sol-angel]

What's even more hilarious about this video...

Is that one of the main metaphysical properties of chamomile is that it protects and it purifies.

So maybe that cup of tea IS doing a little something for you or even a lot for you by maintaining some peace and calm in your space.

If you want to get more witchier with it, start your day off with chamomile tea with the intent of gaining ways to successfully curve or resolve verbal conflicts that involve people who try to start an argument with you. Another idea is that you envision the tea that you're drinking as this elixir that helps ward away the negative repetitive thoughts that you have about yourself or what's keeping you from being relaxed.

You can get loose chamomile from your local apothecary, chamomile tea bags, or cutting up chamomile tea bags to retrieve what's inside them to add into a spell jar with other ingredients. Wishing for generation peace or purification of generational curses is a possible thing with magic, but it will still take a lot of time. Work through smaller goals and intents like starting with a spell jar that decreases arguments that happen in your home between you and a family member, a spell jar that influences any outdated beliefs that you or a family member may have, a spell jar to make the process of shadow work less painful, or a spell jar to help keep your resilience in believing and going for what's right instead of being intimidated into thinking or doing what's wrong.

[tattooed-alchemist]

We had mixed sun and clouds for the Illustris ritual at Concentric Circles, on the lawn at the Roundhouse, and the smell of a nearby fire and all the herbs was just fabulous.

We did an herbal bar for spiritual nourishment and everyone got to make their own custom blend and take it home in a quarter-ounce jar.

Here is the list of ingredients and attributes.

[tattooed-alchemist]

I’m going to dig down and look at my saffron on Sunday August 12th.  How I came to that determination is from the different charts shown above.  

Bio-dynamically, just after the new moon is the next phase when it’s considered beneficial to sow or plant herbs.  The saffron is already planted but my uncovering it at this time shouldn’t be harmful, and I want to take my first look as early as possible.  Alchemically, that same day is a lone active (benefic) energy day in a run of passives and it’s in the phase of Digestion (seems like a good alignment with giving them a drink).  Planetary hour-wise, saffron is a Sun plant so there’s dawn at 6am or 2:27pm in the afternoon which would be times aligned with the plant.

If the corms haven’t gotten to the right point when I check, the next window with overlapping auspicious influences is right at the end of August.  That also happens to be the general time frame when I was taught “to give the girls a drink to wake them up” if Seattle has not yet produced an end-of-summer shower of rain.  But everything in my garden is running ahead of ‘usual’ with our warmer year this season so I’m guessing my saffron might be too.

[tattooed-alchemist]

More sacred chores. To cut down on having random bags of herbs in every cupboard, after Illustris rituals where we do the herb bar, I make a bulk batch of whatever we were crafting.

For Concentric Circles a few weeks back, we did a ritual for spiritual nourishment: halfway between Imbolc and the Equinox, just after the inauguration.  I had leftover everything except Bay leaf (I grind that from my own tree as needed) so I threw 2 tbsp of each of the other nine ingredients into one big jar, and reclaimed all the little ones used for the ritual. 

Ready-to-go spiritual nourishment herbs, ready to charge and use, give to friends or even throw on a charcoal.   I was thinking, a bit of this blended with some specifically-restful ingredients might make a restorative sleep dream pillow. 

The list of ingredients and corresponding magickal qualities is available online.

[pastelwitchery-blog]

AJ’s Attraction Oil

A highly customize-able oil that is used to attract people toward you, make you seem even more beautiful than normal, and make you smell amazing. 

Ingredients • Any combination or 3 or more of these herbs (choose whichever you think smells best together): Apple Blossom, Basil, Chamomile, Cherry, Cinnamon, Jasmine, Lavender, Lemon Zest, Orange Blossom, Rose Petals, or Strawberry • Two or three of any of these essential oils: Lemon, Apple, Orange Blossom, Vanilla, Rose, Rosemary, or Violet • Rose Quartz • A spray bottle or jar

Procedure 1. Grind the solid ingredients and mix them together in a bottle. 2. Add in the rose quartz. 3. Add drops of the essential oils until the oil achieves a pleasing scent.

If you try out this glamour, tell us how it goes!

[grumpylokeanelder]

Folk Magic: To Protect Cattle Against Witchcraft

Vervain and the mountain ash are the best preservatives for cattle against witchcraft. Some should be tied round the cow's horns and her tail. Then no fairy or witch can do harm while the herbs of power are on her.

(Lady Wilde. Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms & Superstitions of Ireland and Ancient Cures, Charms, and Usages of Ireland. p.40) My old folk magic and folk medicine posts are presented as interesting preserved snippets of folk practice, not suggested actions.

[grumpylokeanelder]

Question: Can you suggest any book on herbology and the use of plants on a medicinal and/or mystical context?

Anonymous asked grumpylokeanelder:

Can you suggest any book on herbology and the use of plants on a medicinal and/or mystical context?

Dear Anon,

A couple of things:

A lot of the easy-to-find herb books on the market are full of dangerous misinformation, especially if they're Pagan-flavored and suggesting magical uses. They often don't explain why things are listed with particular correspondences and give little-to-no safety information. I've seen books that instruct people to use highly toxic plants that could kill them, and there wasn't a note anywhere on the page that hey, this plant is deadly poisonous. And they tell people to make and ingest a tea, or rub it on their skin. Oy.

I don't do medicinal herbology. I do perfumery (and am thus more concerned with and knowledgeable of skin safety than anything else) and work with oils and herbs in a magic context, not a medicinal one. I am unqualified to give you a list of recommended medicinal books. I unfortunately also do not know anyone who works with medicinal herbology, so I don't have a trusted contact to refer you to.

Here are titles you may want to look at. Please note, as per above, that I am not an expert at medicinal herbology and if these books contain such information, I cannot guarantee that they are safe, quality sources for medicinal information. These are not in any particular order.

Beyerl, Paul - The Master Book of Herbalism

Beyerl, Paul - A Compendium of Herbal Magick

Coffey, Timothy - The History and Folklore of North American Wildflowers

Pollington, Stephen - Leechcraft

Culpeper, Nicholas - Culpeper's Complete Herbal (I have been told the medicinal information is very dated, so this should only be used for magic/mysticism related purposes.)

Dioscorides - De Meteria Medica

Buhner, Stephen Harrod - The Lost Language of Plants

Grieve, Maude - A Modern Herbal (Same note as with Culpeper.)

Knab, Sophie Hodorowicz - Polish Herbs, Flowers & Folk Medicine

Riva, Anna - The Modern Herbal Spellbook: The Magical Uses of Herbs

Yronwode, Catherine - Hoodoo Herb and Root Magic

Sanders, Jack - Hedgemaids and Fairy Candles: The Lives and Lore of North American Wildflowers

Nickell, J. M. - Nickell's Botanical Ready Reference

Stokker, Kathleen - Remedies and Rituals: Folk Medicine in Norway and the New Land (probably less of what you're looking for, but this book is fascinating and often overlooked).

Research the idea of the Doctrine of Signatures. A lot of magical/mystical correspondences come from this concept. (Do not apply the concept to medicinal herbology.)