Vervain Water

Vervain was known in many legends as one of the herbs sacred to the Druids. Although it is often associated with the Summer Solstice, the vervain plant is highly potent in late summer, around the time of Lammas.



In Hoodoo and other folk magic traditions, vervain is used to make Van-Van oil - this is simply a blend of vervain and a base oil, simmered and strained. This oil is used to provide magical protection, and clear away evil energies. In many forms of folklore, vervain is associated with workings that decrease lust - however, the scent of vervain is a well-known aphrodisiac.

In addition to matters of the libido, however, vervain is commonly incorporated as a cleansing herb. You can brew up a batch of vervain water to cleanse your magical tools, asperge around a sacred space, or purify your altar for ritual.

You'll need:

• 1 / 2 C fresh vervain leaves
• 2 C. boiling water

After your water has come to a boil, pour it over the vervain leaves in a pitcher or bowl. Allow the leaves to steep for half an hour, and then strain. Use a funnel to pour it into a jar. Use the water for cleansing and purification.

Article by: Patti Wigington

Ash Tree Magic and Folklore

In Norse lore, Odin hung from Yggrasil, the World Tree, for nine days and nights so that he might be granted wisdom. Yggdrail was an ash tree, and since the time of Odin's ordeal, the ash has often been associated with divination and knowledge. In some Celtic legends, it is also seen as a tree sacred to the god Lugh, who is celebrated at Lughnasadh. Because of its close association not only with the Divine but with knowledge, Ash can be worked with for any number of spells, rituals, and other workings.

Some traditions of magic hold that the leaf of an Ash tree will bring you good fortune. Carry one in your pocket - those with an even number of leaflets on it are especially lucky.

In some folk magic traditions, the ash leaf could be used to remove skin disorders such as warts or boils. As an alternate practice, one could wear a needle in their clothing or carry a pin in their pocket for three days, and then drive the pin into the bark of an ash tree - the skin disorder will appear as a knob on the tree and disappear from the person who had it.

The spear of Odin was made from an Ash tree, according to the Norse poetic eddas.

Newborn babies in the British Isles were sometimes given a spoonful of Ash sap before leaving their mother's bed for the first time. It was believed this would prevent disease and infant mortality.

Five trees stood guard over Ireland, in mythology, and three were Ash. The Ash is often found growing near holy wells and sacred springs. Interestingly, it was also believed that crops that grew in the shadow of an Ash tree would be of an inferior quality.

In some European folklore, the Ash tree is seen as protective but at the same time malevolent. Anyone who does harm to an Ash can find themselves the victim of unpleasant supernatural circumstances.

In northern England, it was believed that if a maiden placed ash leaves under her pillow, she would have prophetic dreams of her future lover.

In some Druidic traditions, it is customary to use a branch of Ash to make a magical staff. The staff becomes, in essence, a portable version of a World Tree, connecting the user to the realms of earth and sky.

If you place Ash berries in a cradle, it protects the child from being taken away as a changeling by mischievous Fae.

Source: Patti Wigington

The Celtic tree month of Ash, or Nion, falls from February 18 to March 17. It's a good time for magical workings related to the inner self.

Full Moon Release Ritual

Items you'll need:

• Floating candles,
• a large bowl,
• water,
• matches,
• a pen.

Create sacred space with candles, sage smudging, and setting up altars with powerful totems, or items of special significance.

If possible, stand or sit under the Moon. Allow yourself to feel a direct relationship to it, as a mover of the living waters of the Earth and within our own bodies.

Do a grounding exercise, to bring you out of the chatter of small talk and into ritual space. Feel the earth under your feet and shake out the tension in the body.

Place the large water-filled bowl in front of you, or in the middle of your gathering on a table.

Each person writes what they're releasing on the floating candle. It's not important that it shows up, just that the intention is there.

As you place the candle into the bowl, declare what you're releasing.

Light the candle.

Allow yourself to feel the transfer of what you're releasing to the candle. As a group focus on letting go into the water, holding hands if that feels right.

Celebrate this release by sharing a feast under the full Moon!

Allow the candle to keep burning in the bowl as a symbol of the letting go process. The flame is a purifier, and symbolizes the sparks of inspiration as well. If you blow out your floating candle, and your bowl is in your home, relighting it will remind you of your commitment. Place inspiring pictures and totems around it that remind you of who you're becoming. Above all, give yourself kudos for honoring your own growth.

source:Paganwiccan

The Full Buck Moon

July is normally the month when the new antlers of buck deer push out of their foreheads in coatings of velvety fur. It was also often called the Full Thunder Moon, for the reason that thunderstorms are most frequent during this time. It is known as the Hay Moon or the Meadow Moon because the meadows are at their greatest point of growth in this month, and it is a time for hay-cutting.Other names for this month’s Moon include: Blood Moon, Grain Moon, Green Corn Moon, Herb Moon, Hungry Ghost Moon, Wort Moon.

Native American fishing tribes called it the Sturgeon Moon because sturgeon, a large fish of the Great Lakes and other major bodies of water, were most readily caught during this month. A few tribes knew it as the Full Red Moon because, as the Moon rises, it appears reddish through any sultry haze.

The energies surrounding this full moon are ones of success, happiness, and fulfilment. We are blessed with the first harvest of the season - a reward for all our hard work. For this reason, July's full moon is also known as the Blessing Moon. Energy moves into creation. Opportunities for self-reliance and confidence, unity and balance abound.

The Moon at this time brings us feelings of being connected. Connection to Spirit encourages us to first recognize blessings in our own lives, and then pay them forward - thus continuing the cycle of positive energy.

Correspondences:

• Colors: Green, silver, blue-gray
• Gemstones: Moonstone, white agate, opals or pearls
• Trees: Ash and oak
• Gods: Juno, Venus, Cerridwen, Athena, Nephthys, Lugh
• Herbs: Mugwort, hyssop, lemon balm
• Element: Water

This is a great time to do divination and dreamwork. Find a way to incorporate the watery energy of the Blessing Moon into your spell crafting and ritual. Enjoy the relaxing feeling of July's full moon and use it in your personal meditation.

Celebrating the Full Meadow Moon (Full Buck Moon):

• Wear shades of green to honour the herb harvest
• Adorn your hair and altar with herbs and greenery
• Burn sage, lavender or rosemary incense
• Prepare herbal tea and lavender or lemon balm cookies
• Bless your herb garden

Blessing For Your Garden

On the night of the full moon, go into your garden, pour a libation of fresh spring water, and say:

Plants of wonder plants of power
Increase in potency by minute and hour
I conjure you now, I charge you with strength
I give you life of infinite length
And boundless magical energy
As I will it, plants, charged you be.

Don't forget to bless your garden spirits as well. Leave some fragrant herbs strewn in the garden, or string some silver bells, and say the following:

All members of the Sprite and Fey
I offer myself to you this day
For spiritual harvest and your work here below
So that I may flower and blossom and grow
And learn of myself and that up ahead
While working or playing or dreaming in bed
And in return, there is nothing I ask
But that within your magic spirit can bask

The Laws Of Magick

The Laws of Magick are not legislative laws, but, like those of physics or musical harmony, are actually fairly practical observations that have been accumulated over thousands of years. These laws describe the way magic seems to behave.



The LAW OF KNOWLEDGE:
This is probably the most widely used law, and probably encompasses all the others in some way. The basis of this law is that understanding brings control. The more that is known about a subject, the easier it is to excercise control over it. Knowledge is power.

The LAW OF SELF-KNOWLEDGE:
An obvious derivative of the LAW OF KNOWLEDGE, this law carries additional connotations, as a mage who does not have knowledge of himself does not have knowledge (and therefore control) of his own magic. This law is one of the reason's "evil" mages are very rare - a dedication to "evil for evil's sake" is usually due to a lack of introspection and awareness of oneself. It is difficult to do harm to others when you understand fully what that kind of harm would do to you. Know thyself.

The LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT:
A simple scientific understanding - if exactly the same actions are done under exactly the same conditions, they will be associated with exactly the same results. Magicians have at least as much belief in cause and effect as modern physicists do, they just realize that a good ritual, like a good theatrical performance or a good bread recipe, isn't always predictable. In truth, a spell involves so many variables, that controlling or even understanding them all is impossible. The key to magical success is learning which variables are the most important, and how to keep them constant. Control over the variables is icing on the cake.

The LAW OF SYNCHRONICITY:
Two or more events happening at the same time are likely to have more in common than the merely temporal. Very few events ever happen in isolation from other events. There is no such thing as a mere coincidence.

The LAW OF ASSOCIATION:
If any two patterns have elements in common, the patterns interact "through" those common elements, and control of one pattern facilitates control of the other(s) depending (among other factors) upon the number of ccommon elements involved. This is a very important law, up there with the LAW OF KNOWLEDGE.

The LAW OF SIMILARITY:
Having an accurate physical or mental representation of something facilitates control over it. This one is fairly obvious in it's usage - having a model, picture, or other representation of your target (like a voodoo doll) gives you power to effect the target. Look alikes are alike.

The LAW OF CONTAGION:
Objects or beings in physical contact with each other continue to interact after separation. Everyone you have ever touched has a magical link with you, though it is probably pretty weak unless the contact was intense and/or prolonged or repeated frequently. Magical power is contagious. Naturally, having a part of someone's body (nails, hair, spit, etc.) gives the best contagion link.

The LAW OF NAMES:
Knowing the complete and TRUE name of an object, being, or process gives one complete control over it. This works because a name is a definition (yes, even "Harold", "Marie", "Kunte", and "Jasmine" were at one time) as well as a contagion link, and an association (if you call something the same name over and over, that name becomes associated with the thing). This also works, because knowing the complete and true name of something or someone means that you have achieved a complete understanding of it's or their nature. This is why, in most pre-industrial cultures, people are given "secret names", as well as "public names", and why the sharing of a secret name is such an act of trust - because the secret name is considered to be very close to, if not identical with, the person's true name.

The LAW OF WORDS OF POWER:
There exist certain words that are able to alter the internal and external realities of those uttering them, and the power may rest in the very sounds of the words as much as their meanings. Many of such words are names, though the meanings may have been lost or forgotten. Very many magical tools require words to be inscribed upon them and/or said over them during their construction and/or use.

The LAW OF PERSONIFICATION:
Any phenomenon may be considered to be alive and to have a personality - that is, to "be" an entity or being. Anything can be a person. Most weather mages personify the winds and the clouds, for example, and thus find focussing their magic on the atmosphere much easier to do.

The LAW OF INVOCATION:
It is possible to establish internal communication with entities from either inside or outside oneself, said entities seeming to be inside of oneself during the communication process.

The LAW OF EVOCATION:
It is possible to establish external communication with entities from either inside or outside oneself, said entities seeming to be outside oneself during the communication process.

The LAW OF IDENTIFICATION:
It is possible through maximum association between elements of oneself and those of another being to actually become that being, to the point of sharing it's knowledge and wielding it's power. This is the law that controls most lengthy or permanent possession phenomena.

The LAW OF PERSONAL UNIVERSES:
Every sentient being lives in and quite possibly creates a unique universe which can never be 100% identical to that lived in by another. So called "reality" is in fact a matter of consensus opinions. This law is nowhere near as obvious as the other laws in it's applications, but if you can figure some out, you can use it.

The LAW OF INFINITE UNIVERSES:
The total number of universes into which all possible combinations of existing phenomena could be organized is infinite. Anything is possible, though some things are more probable than others. You might consider this to refer to the "alternate probability worlds" of science fiction, but it also has a much wider application.

The LAW OF PRAGMATISM:
If a pattern of belief or behavior enables a being to survive and to accomplish chosen goals, then that belief or behavior is "true" or "real" or "sensible". If it works, it's true. Another rather obscure law, but it does have some very useful applications.

The LAW OF TRUE FALSEHOODS:
It is possible for a concept or act to violate the truth patterns of a given personal universe and still be "true", provided that it "works" in a specific situation. If it's a paradox, it's still probably true. This law is basically useless, except to justify use of the above three laws without screwing things up in your version of the real world.

The LAW OF SYNTHESIS:
The synthesis of two or more "opposing" patterns of data will produce a new pattern that will be truer than either of the first two were. That is, it will be applicable to more levels of reality, and this new pattern may not be a compromise, but may be something rather new indeed.

The LAW OF POLARITY:
Any pattern of data can be split into (at least) two "opposing" characteristics, and each will contain the essence of the other within itself.

The LAW OF OPPOSITES:
A sub-law of POLARITY. The "opposite" of a pattern contains information about that pattern, by providing information on what the pattern is not. Thus, control over a pattern's opposite (or close to it's opposite) facilitates control over the pattern itself. (Note that this one I alone take the blame for, as it is my own extension of POLARITY and SIMILARITY)

The LAW OF DYNAMIC BALANCE:
To survive, let alone to become powerful, one must keep every aspect of one's universe in a state of dynamic balance with every other aspect. Extremism is dangerous, as the extreme being becomes so associated with the extreme aspect, that they lose the ability to avoid that aspect at all. This is another reason "evil" mages are rare, as continuous association with pain or death will cause a mage pain or death, ending the mage's ability to continue actively with "evil". This is also why "good" mages, especially healers, tend to live a long time.

The LAW OF PERVERSITY:
Sometimes known as Murphy's Law. If anything can go wrong, it will, and in the most annoying manner possible. Magical associations sometimes operate in the reverse of what was desired, and meaningful coincidences are just as likely to be unpleasant as pleasant. Even if nothing can go wrong, some element of the universe may change so that things will go wrong anyway. Whether we like it or not, the gods (or fates, or what have you) do have a sense of humor. Emotionally healthy mages have less problems with this law than others do, as the mages own subconscious mind is probably a major perpetrator of
this law.

The LAW OF UNITY:
Every phenomena in existance is linked directly or indirectly to every other one, past, present, or future. Perceived seperations between phenomena are based on incomplete sensing and/or understanding.

Found in: Authentic Thaumaturgy

Meditating on Moonbeams

Mix your mind with the moonbeams at night. Wash your sorrows in their rays. Feel the mystic light spreading silently over your body, over trees, over vast lands. Standing in an open space with quiet eyes, behold, beyond the limits of the moonbeam-revealed scenery, the bedimmed fringe of the shining horizon. Let your mind, by steady wing-beats of meditation, spread beyond the lines of visible scenes and over the horizon. Let your meditation run past the rim of the visible to the lands of fancy.

Spread your mind from the moonbeam-visible objects to the dim stars and distant skies lying beyond in the eternal stillness of the ether, all throbbing with life. Watch the moonbeams spread, not only on one side of the earth, but everywhere in the eternal region of your spacious mind. Meditate until, in the cool moonbeams of your calmness, you race over trackless skies and, in realization, behold the universe as Light.

~Paramahansa Yogananda, Metaphysical Meditations

Blessing Oil

To make Blessing Oil, use 1/8 Cup base oil of your choice. Add the following:

• 5 drops Sandalwood
• 2 drops White Camphor
• 1 drop Orange
• 1 drop Patchouli

As you blend the oils, visualize your intent, and take in the aroma. Know that this oil is sacred and magical. Label, date, and store in a cool, dark place.

Money Money Candle Spell

This may be done at any time, but preferably at the same time each day or night, during a waxing moon.



You will need:

• A green candle and a white candle.
  The green candle represents the money, and the white candle represents you. If you can find a money candle like the one in the picture - that's even better!


• A prosperity oil, or essential oil for prosperity.
  The oil will smooth the way allowing the money to come easily to you.

Annoint the candles with oil first, thinking of your desire for money and how good it will feel when it comes.

Set the candles on your altar or table 9 inches apart. After doing this, light the candles and say:

"Money, money come to me
In abundance three times three
May I be enriched in the best of ways
Harming none on its way
This I accept, so mote it be
Bring me money three times three!"

Allow the candles to burn for 9 minutes. As they burn, make sure you visualize the money pouring in from the universe. When the 9 minutes are up, pinch out the flames, saying thank-you to the fire.

Repeat this procedure for nine days. Each day, after lighting the green candle and before lighting the white candle, move the white candle one inch closer to the green. When the candles touch, your spell is finished. Allow the candles to burn the rest of the way.

A Releasing Spell for the Solar Eclipse

A solar eclipse occurs as the Sun casts the Moon's shadow across the Earth. It unites the powers of Sun and Moon, light and darkness, logic and intuition. It is "a day without a night, a night without a day," magically suspended from normal routines: a cosmic exception that proves the rule of Sun and Moon.

An eclipse is a perfect time for changing patterns. Use its power to break curses, bad habits, and so forth. Choose a small item representing what you want to dispel.

At the time of the eclipse, take the item far from your home. Hold it and concentrate on all that binds and limits you, symbolized by this object. Then say:

Eclipse, break
through the past
Smashing all
that held me fast.
Shadow come,
shadow go,
Take this nasty
thing I throw.

Throw the item as far away from you as possible. Quickly bury it where it falls, then say:

Hide it far, far away
Lost between the night and day.
Leave it there, let it be,
Never more to
trouble me!

Cover the site with fallen leaves or grass to obscure it. Then walk away without looking back.

- By: Elizabeth Barrette

The Solar Eclipse

The solar eclipse is the symbol of the Dark Lord, also called the Lord of Shadows, the Leader of the Wild Hunt, Hades, Pluto and the death and resurrection aspects of Cernunnos, Dionysus — and, on a cosmic level, Shiva, among others. The Christian comparison is the portion of the crucifixion of Jesus when he descends into hell then resurrects. As such, the solar eclipse (the Bible story of the crucifixion states the sun darkened at 9.00 am) is a time for ritual observances that link the practitioner with the death passage portion of the cycle of life.

This is an opportunity to connect with the Shadowlands or the Underworld and to face one's own fears and uncertainties about death. By confronting death through meditation, the face of Death is unmasked. The face one sees may initially be grotesque and horrible, but once the beholder accepts that this is also the face of the giver of life's energy, that face changes and is beautiful to behold. This is the significance of focusing on the passage. By facing our fears, we gain insight and freedom — death is no longer to be feared.

Once a person is no longer fearful of death or the Underworld, the solar eclipse becomes a good time to honour ancestors, visit with the spirits of the departed, charge Craft tools of dark power magics and honour the Dark Powers.

The eclipse does not last long, so lengthy ceremonies would not be in order unless you create one that begins prior to the eclipse and encompasses the eclipse. Instead, if you are feeling connected, you may simply want to light some incense and a candle and invite some departed to visit with you for just a little while so you can ask for guidance, tell the person you love him/her, offer forgiveness or ask for it as the case may be, or use the time to celebrate your union with the Crone and the Dark Lord. It is also a good time to end anger and hostility, so that when the Sun reappears the Light will shine within you as well upon the Earth.

From: Green Witchcraft

A Poem for the New Moon

The Goddess,
from the great above,
She set Her mind towards the great below,
Inanna,
from the great above,
She set Her mind toward the great below.
My Lady abandoned heaven,
abandoned Earth,
to the nether world She descended,
Inanna abandoned heaven,
abandoned Earth,
to the nether world She descended.

-Sumerian

To Write a Letter to the Beloved Dead

In this manner the letter must be written: first, the ink prepared from soot mixed with pale wine; next, the pen made, shaped from a quill never before cut; then, the paper arranged on a table between two black candles. At the top of the paper this inscription should be set:

See now, thou who are mourned, the nature of this mourning: as thou knowest even now my sorrow, so on this paper do I doubly affirm it. I write thee my heart here, for thy sight and mine only - that we may be bound by such silent words even better than when our words were spoken. Receive, then, this document as sign and token of my commitment: not to forget thee, nor to cease mourning for thee, until my own life shall be ended.

Write down then the essence of your grief, the substance of your devotion, and such aspects of memory as you would fix forever. When this has been accomplished, fold the paper thrice and seal it, along with sweet herbs, in a small box which should then be buried in the ground, or burned in a fire of fragrant wood. The letter shall thus be received.

Source; Crone's Book of Magical Words

Lampblack Ink

Choose a candle color to coordinate with the purpose of your spell. (Green for money, for instance.)

Carve and dress as desired. (This means carve symbols or words into the candle, and annoint with essential oils that are appropriate to your purpose.)

Hold a spoon over the candle flame until black soot forms. (This takes a while; it's a time-consuming process requiring patience.) This soot is lampblack.

When sufficient lampblack has been produced, carefully tap it off the spoon and into a bowl.

Add spring water or wine, drop by drop, to dissolve the soot and then add gum arabica to thicken the ink.

Source: Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells

Invocation To The Dark Mother

‎"We call to thee,
Ama,
dark Mother;
thou to whom all manifested life must return,
when its time has come;
dark Mother of stillness and rest,
before whom men tremble because they understand thee not.
We call to thee,
who art also Hecate of the waning Moon,
dark Lady of wisdom,
whom men fear because they wisdom towers above their own.
We, the hidden children of the Goddess,
know that there is naught to fear in thine embrace,
which none escape;
that when we step into the darkness,
as all must,
it is but to step again into the light."

~J and S Farrar

Dictionary of Herbal Intentions

• Beauty: Avocado, Catnip, Ginsing, Maidenhair


• Catalysts: Dragon's Blood, Mandrake, Mistletoe
• Courage: Borage, Mullein, Ragweed, Rose, Sweetpea, Tea, Thyme, Yarrow


• Divination: Black Willow, Broom, Cherry, Clove, Dandelion, Hibiscus, Ivy, Meadowsweet, Orris
• Dreams: Anise, Cinnamon, Holly, Marigold, Mugwort, Yarrow


• Employment: Devil's Shoestring, Lucky Hand, Pecan


• Faeries and Elves: Daisy, Foxglove, Ragweed, Shamrock, Wood Sorrel
• Fertility: Daffodil, Ginseng, Grape,Hazel, Mandrake, Mistletoe, Mugwort, Nuts, Oak, Patchouly, Poppy, Rice, Sunflower, Wheat
• Friendship: Lemon, Love Seed, Sweetpea


• Good Luck; Allspice, Aloe, Bluebell, Clover, Daffodil, Fern, Goldenrod, Heather, Honeysuckle, Irish Moss, Job's Tears, Moss, Nutmeg, Rose, Sandalwood, Strawberry, Violet


• Happiness: Catnip, Cyclamen, Hawthorn, Hyacinth, Lavender, Marjoram, Meadowsweet, Saffron, Witch Grass
• Healing: Allspice, Apple, Bay, Bittersweet, Blackberry, Carnation, Cedar, Cinnamon, Fennel, Flax, Gardenia, Garlic, Ginseng, Henna, Hops, Ivy, Job's Tears, Mint, Mugwort, Myrrh, Oak, Pine, Potato, Rose, Rosemary, Sandalwood, Thistle, Thyme, Violet, Willow
• Health: Ash, Caraway, Coriander, Ginseng, Juniper, Marjoram, Mistletoe, Nutmeg, Oak, Rose, Thyme


• Legal Matters: Buckthorn, Hickory, Marigold
• Love: Apple, Apricot, Almond, Barley, Basil, Brazil Nut, Chamomile, Cherry, Chestnut, Cinnamon, Clove, Clover, Coriander, Daffodil, Daisy, Gardenia, Ginger, Hibiscus, Jasmine, Juniper, Lavendar, Lemon, Marjoram, Meadowsweet, Mistletoe, Orange, Plum, Poppy, Raspberry, Rose, Rosemary, Senna, Strawberry, Thyme, Valerian, Vanilla, Violet, Willow, Yarrow


• Mental Powers: Caraway, Grape, Rosemary, Walnut
• Money, Wealth: Almond, Basil, Blackberry, Cedar, Chamomile, Cinnamon, Clove, Dill, Fern, Ginger, Goldenrod, Honeysuckle, Irish Moss, Jasmine, Lucky Hand, Mint, Moss, Myrtle, Nutmeg, Oak, Orange, Patchouly, Pine, Rice, Snapdragon, Tea, Vervain Wheat


• Peace: Gardenia, Lavendar, Meadowsweet, Pennyroyal, Violet
• Prosperity: Almond, Ash, Banana, Nuts, Oak, Tulip
• Protection: Acacia, Aloe, Angelica, Anise, Ash, Basil, Birch, Blackberry, Blueberry, Broom, Caraway, Carnation, Cadar, Cinquefoil, Clover, Cotton, Cypress, Dill, Eucalyptus, Fennel, Flax, Foxglove, Grass, Hazel, Heather, Holly, Irish Moss, Ivy, Lilac, Mandrake, Marigold, Mistletoe, Mugwort, Mulberry, Oak, Olive, Pine, Primrose, Raspberry, Rice, Rose, Rosemary, Sandalwood, Spanish Moss, Thistle, Valerian, Violet, Willow
• Psychic Ability: Bay, Cinnamon, Honeysuckle, Marigold, Rose, Thyme, Yarrow
• Purification: Bay, Broom, Cedar, Chamomile, Iris, Parsley, Sage, Valerian, Vervain


• Sleep: Chamomile, Hops, Lavendar, Peppermint, Rosemary, Thyme, Vervain
• Spirituality: Cinnamon, Frankincense, Heather, Myrrh, Sandalwood
• Strength: Bay, Carnation, Mugwort, Mulberry, Thistle
• Success: Cinnamon, Clover, High John the Conqueror, Mistletoe, Patchouly, Sandalwood, Vanilla


• Wisdom: Bodhi, Iris, Sage, Sunflower
• Wishes: Bamboo, Beech, Dandelion, Dogwood, Job's Tears, Sage, Sandalwood, Sunflower, Violet

source

Magickal Gardening

Gardens can be both products of enchantment and independent producers of enchantment; they are a living, on-going magic spell. Gardens may be arranged in any variety of ways - color-coordinated, whatever was on sale at the nursery, even completely haphazardly. If you select, coordinate, and arrange plants according to the magic powers they radiate, then planting a garden becomes one style of casting a spell. Thus your desire to draw wealth, protection, or fertility to one's home is manisfested by carefully arranging the appropriate plants, and vigilantly removing those possessing opposing, contradictory powers.

This obviously is a long-term extended magic spell, rather than the type of quick-fix luck spell you might choose for a spontaneous trip to a casino. How will you benefit from this type of garden spell?

• The actual spell-casting and then time spent among the botanicals and their radient energy creates the desired adjustment on your own energy.


• The radiant energy of the coordinated garden draws and/or repels the targeted goal to you and your home in a more powerful manner than one botanical or amulet could achieve alone.


• This spell is a symbiotic, reciprocal process, which ultimately strengthens all living participants for their mutual benefit. The garden will additionally attract complementary animal and spirit allies who will also contribute to the success of your spell.

This type of magic spell is not limited to those with access to personal property or sunny weather. Magick spell gardens may be created idoors in pots. Furthermore, an entire garden need not be created; orne or two individual plants may be grown as part of a magic spell or to further other magic spells.


Source: Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells

Plant Magic

If you are pursuing a spiritual or magical alliance with a specific plant, this is best accomplished with a living plant, redolent with power and consciousness, rather than processed, dried plants that retain power but lack conscious intelligence.

You can grow plants necessary for magic spells and/or physical healing. As you nurture the plant - communicate with it: share your fears and desires, let the plant know what you want from it. These plants will potentially provide more power for you than any others. They become your partners in healing and magic. It is a symbiotic relationship: they care for you as you care for them.

In many cases if you want to work with a plant, you'll have to grow it. that's the only way it is guaranteed to be available. The plant realm is as ecologically devastated, if not more so, than the animal kingdom. Many plants are extinct or seriously endangered. The only way to work with some magical plants (Solomon's Seal or Low John the Conqueror, for example), the only way to incorporate them into any spell is to grow and nurture them. It is the only way their power will be available to you.

source: Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells

Harvesting Botanicals

In order to maximize botanicals' magic potential, magic rituals and spells are incorporated into their harvesting.

Because plants are alive, removing them from Earth is a risky operation. One has the option of increasing and enhancing their inherent power, or of offending Earth and the presiding Plant Spirits.

Once upon a time, all harvesting, for magical or other purposes, was accompanied by spells, rituals and propitiation of various Earthly and Spirit forces. Unless you purchase your botanicals from magically oriented vendors, one can safely assume that modern harvesting is accompanied by no such rituals or spells.

If you practice extensive botanical spell-casting you may wish to incorporate similar gestures in other ways, to enhance your spells and to provide spiritual protection for oneself. If however, one grows and harvests one's own botanicals, ancient spells, and rituals may be borrowed or adapted.

Because they're alive, have power, and must be treated with respect, it's not appropriate to just go out and grab a handful of plant. Botanical materials are safely harvested through magic ritual. Essentially you cast a spell in order to gain materials to cast more spells.

The plant (or its presiding spirit or Earth herself, however you best understand this) must be addressed. The purpose for gathering should be explained. Because of the principle of reciprocity, gifts are exchanged. Libations of water are always appropriate, howver different traditions favor different gifts. native Americans offered pinches of tobaccop; Anglo-Saxons once offered oatmeal. The ancient Romans offered bread and wine. Honey, wine, and menstrual blood are popular offerings. Fragrant incense may be burned in the vicinity as a gift.

Use your intuition and your judgment to discern what is proper when collecting in the wild. If botanicals are purchased, consider a blessing spell and/or some kind of offering and acknowledgement of the disrepect the plant may have suffered before it came to you.

source: Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells

Alexandrian Harvest Spell

Magic spells are always as simple or as complex as the practitioner wishes. An involved, formal harvesting spell follows; follow it precisely, if it suits you, or consider how best to adapt for your own personal needs.


Alexandrian Harvest Spell

This elaborate plant-gathering ritual was recorded in Alexandria, Egypt during the first centuries of the common era.

1. The harvester first performs personal cleansing spells, while simultaneously purifying his or her body, which at that time meant refraining from sexual relations and eating meat, usually for a period of several days.

2. Sprinkle natron (the natural salt used in the mummification process) over the area being harvested. (Baking soda is a close, modern substitute. Dead Sea salt may also be appropriate.)

3. Place pine resin in a senser and use it to fumigate the area around the chosen plant, circling it three times.

4. Burn kyphi and pour a libation of milk, while engaged in simultaneous prayer and petition.

5. Finally pull up the plant, simultaneously invoking the name of the diety to whom the herb is dedicated, requesting assistance with the purpose of your spell.

6. The uprooted plant is rolled in a pure white linen cloth.

7. Blend seven wheat seeds and seven barley seeds in some honey. Insert this in the hole left by uprooting the plant and then fill it with dirt.

Source: Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells

Kyphi

Kyphi was an Egyptian temple incense formula so important that its formula was engraved onto temple walls. Various formulas existed. Kyphi is an oil and fat-free formula, based on wine and raisins with added fragrant botanicals. It was used in sacred ritual but also to relieve insomnia and provide deep sleep.



Ingredients might include:

• Cardamom pods
• Cinnamon
• Coriander seeds
• Frankincense
• Golden raisins
• Honey
• Juniper berries
• mastic resin
• Myrrh
• Red wine
• Rosebuds
• Sweet flag/calamus root

The scent traveled through the ancient world: the Egyptians were scandalized when the Greeks began to use kyphi as an aphrodisiac.

The Egyptian method of creating Kyphi was complex, here is an example. Currently, the name kyphi is frequently used by manufacturers of spiritual products to indicate any incense possessing an ancient Egyptian "ambiance."

Source: Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells

How to Make Egyptian Kyphi

Here we have a rather vague recipe for Kyphi. I have not actually made it, so I have no idea as to how it would turn out. It does look interesting and adventurous. If anyone tries this, I'd love to hear how it worked out.

1. Begin by blending equal parts dried ground acacia, henna, and juniper.
2. Soak the resulting powder in wine.
3. In a separate container soak golden raisins in wine.
4. Allow this soaking process to continue for seven days.
5. Take equal parts cardamom, sweet flag/calamus, cinnamon, peppermint, bay leaves, galangal, and orris root.
6. Grind each one separately then blend and grind again into a fine powder.
7. Add a tablespoon of honey and a tablespoon of myrrh resin to the spice mixture.
8. Drain the herbs and raisins that have been soaking in the wine, and add them to the honey/myrrh/spice mixture.
9. Add sufficient wine to steep the combined materials, terebinth and raisins to form a thick paste.
10. Use this as is (simmer it to release the fragrance) or dry it, cut into squares, or form into balls and burn as incense.

Source: Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells

Attraction Oil

You will need equal parts of:

• Lovage Herb
• Grated Lemon Peel or Lemon Flowers

Add 2 Tbs of this mix to 2 oz oil and steep for a few weeks in a dark place or over a low heat for about an hour, then cool and strain through cheesecloth. A small piece of lodestone is added to each bottle made.

Wear to draw love. Anoint 2 pink or red candles and burn while visualizing your desires coming true.

From Charms, Spells, and Formulas

Love Oil - 2

To 2 ounces base oil, add one Vitamin E capsule and:

• 7 drops Rose oil
• 3 drops Jasmine oil
• 3 drops Patchouli oil
• 7 drops Dragon's Blood Resin oil
• 3 Rose quartz chips or a small rose quartz

Float 3 pink or red rose buds in master bottle.

Wear to draw love. Anoint pink or red candles and burn while visualizing.

From Charms, Spells, and Formulas

Love Oil

• 7 drops Palmarosa
• 5 drops Ylang-ylang
• 1 drop Ginger
• 2 drops Rosemary
• 1 drop Cardamom

Wear to draw love. Anoint pink candles and burn while visualizing.

From Charms, Spells, and Formulas

Come To Me Oil - 3

To 2 ounces base oil, add one Vitamin E capsule and equal parts of the following:

• Sweet Pea oil
• Rose oil
• Patchouli oil

Float a bit of catnip or a few saffron stamens (for gay men) in the master bottle .
Wear to draw love. Anoint 2 pink or red candles and burn while visualizing.

From Charms, Spells, and Formulas

Come To Me Oil - 2

To 2 ounces base oil, add one Vitamin E capsule and:

• 3 drops cinnamon
• 3 drops ambergris
• 2 drops ylang ylang
• 2 drops vanilla

Float a piece of Queen Elizabeth root in each bottle

Wear to draw love. Anoint two pink or red candles and burn while visualizing your lover coming to you.

From Charms, Spells, and Formulas

Come To Me Oil

To 2 oz base oil add one vitamin E capsule and equal parts of the following:

• Rose Oil
• Jasmine Oil
• Bergamont Oil
• Damiana Oil

Float 9 jasmine flowers in the master bottle.
Wear to attract a lover. Anoint two red candles and burn while visualizing.

From Charms, Spells, and Formulas

Honeysuckle For Love

Honeysuckle is a hardy vine with fragrant flowers that exude sweet nectar. Its twining canes are used magically to bind lovers together, and its floral aroma is a popular scent in perfumes. Honeysuckle is said to aid Love, Romance, Sexuality, and Conjugal Relations, and to encourage Fidelity in marriage.

To Sweeten Your Mate: Wrap a picture of the two of you together in a red cloth with Honeysuckle Flowers, Cherry Bark, and Rose Petals. (You may also add other Love Herbs, such as Queen Elizabeth Root, Red Clover, Damiana, or Catnip.) Dress the packet with a Love or Attraction Oil, place it in a jar of Honey, and keep it hidden in the home.

Source: Lucky Mojo

Honeysuckle Magic

• Use this flower to foster better communication and increase your creative energy.
• In the summer months, suck the nectar of the fresh flowers for inspiration.
• Add the oil to orange or yellow candles for creative brainstorming.
• Rub into green candles for new momeymaking ideas.

Source: Encyclopedia of Magickal Ingredients

How To Make Honeysuckle Tea

Honeysuckle Tea is a cooling and toxin clearing tea for sore throat and skin ailments.


Ingredients needed:

• 1/2 c. honeysuckle flowers
• 1/2 c. chrysanthemum flowers
• 1 quart water

Here's how to make it:

1. Boil water.
2. Remove water from heat and add herbs.
3. Cover and steep 15 min.
4. Strain.
5. Drink 1 cup 3-5 times per day.

Tips:

• For skin blemishes, supplement with dandelion and/or burdock root.
• Make a stronger tea for topical applications.

source

The Symbolic, Physical, and Psychological Powers of Honeysuckle

Honeysuckle is also known as Woodbine. It twists and coils as the Ivy does. Beautiful yellow flowers entwine with the leaves. Its scent is very cloying and sweet. The Honeysuckle shows the way in which to achieve the search for the self. Honeysuckle indicates hidden desires, secrets and the path to the search for the self.


Physical: Pursue your desires, allow yourself to experience pleasure - you are not a monk. By joy do we learn, not by abstinence of what we enjoy.

Mental: The hidden secrets you pursue are not as impenetrable as you suspect. They are simply muted by background noises, home in on the secrets, put aside the distractions.

Spiritual: Remain true to your beliefs and principles in your journey to the self. Follow the Honeysuckle in safety and joy.

More: Honeysuckle is for people who live in the past instead of the present. They feel that their best days are behind them and that there is little to look forward to, and as a consequence they prefer to dwell on past happinesses (or past misfortunes). At a more minor key, homesickness and nostalgia are also Honeysuckle states.

The remedy helps the person in this state to learn from the past without needing to relive it, so that the person can progress on into the present and take joy from today and tomorrow.”

Sources: From the Dr. Edward Back Centre, and Colleen Whittaker

Japanese Honeysuckle - The Good and the Bad

First the good news about the honeysuckle from Japan – it’s a valued herb, as described at the Alternative Nature Online Herbal

Japanese Honeysuckle - Lonicera japonica

Other Names: Chin Yin Hua, Chin Yin T'Eng, Honeysuckle, Japanese Honeysuckle, Jen Tung, Jen Tung Chiu, Jen Tung Kao, Sui-Kazura, Yin Hua, Hall's Honeysuckle, White honeysuckle, Chinese honeysuckle, Halliana

Habitat:
Perennial herb Native to E. Asia - China, Japan, Korea, now naturalized in Britain and the US from southern New York and New Jersey south to southern Florida and west to southwestern Texas. Inland it is distributed from Pennsylvania and West Virginia west to Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Widespread in the eastern and southern United States. Japanese honeysuckle is an important white-tailed deer food and is often invasive.

Cultivation:
Prefers partial shade to full sun and moist soil. Prune back hard in winter to prevent the build-up of woody growth, provide a trellis.

Type of Plant:
Climbing Vine, Shrub, it has a dense root system that may extend laterally for a distance of 7 to 10 feet, and attain depths of 3 to 4 feet. The simple, opposite, pinnate leaves are oval to oblong in shape and are semi-evergreen and may persist on vines year-round, up to 3 inches in length. The extremely fragrant, two-lipped flowers are borne in pairs in the axils of young branches and are produced throughout the summer. Flowers range from 1 to 2 inches in length and are white with a slight purple or pink tinge when young, changing to white or yellow with age, they are edible. The fruit is a black, berrylike drupe with three to five one-seeded stones.

Properties:
Japanese honeysuckle is edible and medicinal. High in Calcium, Magnesium, and Potassium, the leaves can be parboiled and eaten as a vegetable. The edible buds and flowers, made into a syrup or puddings. The entire plant has been used as an alternative medicine for thousands of years in Asia.

The active constituents include calcium, elaidic-acid, hcn, inositol, linoleic-acid, lonicerin, luteolin, magnesium, myristic-acid, potassium, tannin, and zink. It is alterative, antibacterial, antiinflammatory, antispasmodic, depurative, diuretic, febrifuge, and is also used to reduce blood pressure.

The stems are used internally in the treatment of acute rheumatoid arthritis, mumps and hepatitis. The stems are harvested in the autumn and winter, and are dried for later herb use. The stems and flowers are used together a medicinal infusion in the treatment of upper respiratory tract infections (including pneumonia) and dysentery. An infusion of the flower buds is used in the treatment of a wide range of ailments including syphillitic skin diseases and tumors, bacterial dysentery, colds, and enteritis.

Experimentally, the flower extracts have been shown to lower blood cholesterol levels and are antibacterial, antiviral and tuberculostatic. Externally, the flowers are applied as a medicinal wash to skin inflammations, infectious rashes and sores. The flowers are harvested in early morning before they open and are dried for later herb use. This plant has become a serious weed in many areas of N. America, it might have the potential to be utilized for proven medicinal purposes.
Herbal & Medicinal Uses

“Honeysuckle is an herb used primarily in Traditional Chinese Medicine. It is found in many cleansing and detoxifying blends because of its ability to clear heat, wind and toxins from the blood and liver. It is commonly used for sore throat, fever, skin blemishes and rashes. Honeysuckle combines well with chrysanthemum flowers.

The flower is of high medicinal value. It has antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, and is used to dispel heat and remove toxins, including carbuncles, fevers, influenza and ulcers. It is, however, of cold and yin nature, and should not be taken by anyone with weak and "cold" digestive system.

Honeysuckle contains tannins which are being studied for it's possible inhibitory effects on HIV. Fifty seven compounds have been identified in the essential oil of the flowers.

Topically, honeysuckle may be used effectively for fever and skin ailments and rashes. Many skin conditions caused by inflammation or internal heat will benefit from the heat and toxin removing actions of the herb.

Warnings: Leaves contain toxic saponins. Plant Poisonings In Children (most likely applies to the leaves)

Other uses include:
Ground cover, Insecticide, Basketry, vines used to make baskets. The white-flowers of cultivar 'Halliana' has a pronounced lemon-like perfume.

Sources: Deb Jackson & Karen Bergeron, Healthy Herbs, and Wikipedia

Now for the not so good and bad news about honeysuckle:

The Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) is a species of honeysuckle native to eastern Asia including Japan, Korea and northern China. It is a twining vine able to climb up to 10 m high or more in trees, with opposite, simple oval leaves 3-8 cm long, and sweetly scented double tongued flowers. The fruit is a globose dark blue berry 5-8 mm diameter containing numerous seeds.

Japanese Honeysuckle is considered an invasive exotic weed in the United States, and is classified as a noxious weed by the state of Illinois and New Zealand. It has done severe damage to eastern American woodlands, often forming vast clonal colonies on forest floors that displace virtually all native ground plants, and climbing into trees and shrubs and severely weakening and even killing them by cutting off sap flow and shading their leaves.

Nonetheless, this species is still sold by American nurseries, often as the cultivar 'Hall's Prolific'. It is an effective groundcover, and does have pleasant, strong-smelling flowers, but the damage it does far outweighs any positive qualities. The only invasive exotics that compete with this plant for total damage done in the eastern United States are Kudzu and Multiflora rose.

Honeysuckle can be controlled by cutting, flaming, or burning the plant to root level and repeating on two week increments until nutrient reserves in the roots are depleted. Honeysuckle can also be controlled through annual applications of glyphosate, or through grubbing if high labor and soil destruction are not of concern.”

Source: Wikipedia