A little bit of history
I always tell people if they ask me why I call myself a witch, it is partly because of the legacy of women and men that were burned at the stake who were called witches. Those people were a lot of the time the odd ones, the ones that didn’t fit in. Some of them worked with herbs and knew how to help with healing, cleansing, death and pain. Maybe make an occasional love potion to sell at the local market, or even a potion to get rid of unwanted people. Before the time of our modern medicine (did you know penicillin was only invented in 1928) people healed with herbs, praying or/and a touch of magic. There are a lot of ancient writings about how to use herbs. The oldest medical texts that we know of are written on papyri, dating around 2000 B.C and the first (known) collection of written articles is Materia Medica (ca 40-90 A.D.) Through the centuries 1000s of books have been written about the many uses of herbs and almost every castle had/has its own herb garden. Long story short herbs played a major role in the history of humankind.
Hope for the future
In this modern age, people are more and more estranged from nature and with that the many uses of herbs. Assisting us with our health and making our food taste better without all the stuff that is in ready to use products. With more knowledge of herbs and the uses of it, we can make a better connection with nature. I have hope that there is a bit of change coming with more and more people being interested in healthier eating and living.
Something that also gives me good hope of that, is that herbs are making their way back to modern medicine! In the last 25 years more than half of the new drugs that are produced, come from natural products (plants, fungi and bacteria)
The many uses of herbs
Herbs are very important for our work, they connect with the different festivals of the wheel of the year, you can use them in rituals, heal with them, cleanse with them, make potions and simply make your altar a prettier place. Also, we can use them to drink as tea or to spice up our food. Let’s talk about how to collect and use them. Talk to the pagans you know about what herb is their favorite really helps to learn to know more and more. I also did a few courses about herbs, the most recent being one about the plants that are very common in my area like nettle, dandelion and willow. It will make you look at your surroundings in a different way and connect you more with nature and your local grounds.
Collecting herbs
If you want to work with herbs there are a few guidelines to pick/collect. For instance, you don’t want to pick your herbs in a field where a lot of dogs are being walked. And if you want to grow your herbs yourself it is important that you don’t buy the very cultivated seeds. Those plants are cultivated to be without seed or have more flowers, colors or other trademarks that break down the active substances that you need. Harvest the herbs in a clean place. For instance, nettle (a plant that is used to clean your body from the inside) subtracts poison from the ground. That is why you see a lot of nettle growing on grounds that are polluted with for instance waste of dogs or birds, it cleans up the ground. If you use a plant that is in a filthy place, you will get that poison in your body as well.
If you don’t use them instantly, collect the herbs when they are dry, if they are very wet it is hard to dry them, and you've got a higher risk of mold. And please don’t take everything! Last winter we had a shortage of food for the animals, one of the reasons being people collecting too much for themselves! Herbs are food for animals as well, so share them!
Drying Herbs
If you dry the herbs you pick you can save them for quite a while. At least 2 years if you keep them in a dark and dry place. Since most herbs bloom in summer and more people get sick in winter, it is good to have them in stock. To dry them you hang them in a dark, hot and dry place for about 2 weeks. You can check if they are done by breaking a twig from the herbs if it breaks straight away, they are dry. After drying you can keep them in a paper bag, a glass jar or in a wooden box. Always remember to write down what herb it is :)!
Herbal tea
- Herbal tea can be made with fresh and with dried herbs. If you want to use it for medical reasons think about what you want to accomplish with the tea and use the herbs that match that, for instance:
- Lady’s mantle (I really hope this is the correct English word) for female problems like menstruation pain, arthritis or better functioning of your liver.
- Nettle - can help you if you keep too much fluids in your body. It cleans out your system to say so. As mentioned before it subtracts poison out of the ground and does the same in your body. Don’t drink it too strong cause it will make you run to the loo and you will regret it!
- Dandelion - can help your blood pressure down.
- Birch - Brings down a fever and can take away a headache.
Oil and ointment
With oil and ointment you can heal, purify and bless. You find the tradition of blessing with oil in many traditions. It is used in rituals and initiations and it is used to heal wounds and irritations of the skin. Ointment can also be used for complaints that are under the skin, like comfrey when you overload your joints, chestnut with rheumatism, or marigold oil to stimulate your lymphatic system. Ointment is quite easy to make. Let the herbs sit in (natural) oil (depending on the herb you work with use sunflower, olive or almond oil, but use it in its purest form) Some herbs require au bain marie heating (especially ointment) If you don’t work with applying heat it is recommended to leave the herbs in for at least 4 weeks before you can use it.
Uses in magic
With herbs we can make incense, incense is used for cleansing (body, house and mind) meditation, divination and in rituals. I use it as the representative of the element of air. (I also use feathers)
In rituals often bay leaves are used to write your intentions on and then either put them in a spell jar or burn them.
I use herbs in spell bags and spell jars depending on the intention of the spell / the work you want to do you select the herb that is fitting for instance:
- Cinnamon: prosperity
- Garlic: reflect / ward off evil
- Nutmeg: health and stamina
- Mint: showing the truth / insight
- Lavender: calming situations down
Some fun facts
- The things you can make and do with herbs are endless, from making drinks, spicing up your food, making a compress for a wound or irritation on the skin or just as a relaxing scent in your bedroom
- Sometimes it's as simple as just enjoying the beauty of them during a walk in nature.
- Even a simple plant like cleavers (sticky willy) that you don’t even have to pick yourself if you own a dog, it just sticks on him and you have enough for a cup of tea (wash it off) is bursting with medical properties like: detoxificant, cleanser, laxative, lowers blood pressure and reduces inflammation when there is a problem with your lymphs. Growing all around the world cleavers has a rich history of traditional uses. Native Americans used it to improve kidney health and as a remedy for gonorrhoea and it was used to prevent pregnancy. In Traditional Chinese medicine it is used as an anti-inflammatory. Celtic folklore says drinking a cleavers infusion made you so pretty that everyone will love you :) ! Did you know that cleavers belongs to the same family as coffee? It contains too little caffeine to keep a regular coffee drinker awake, but it makes a good coffee tasting drink! (Tip for if they ever force you to give up coffee!)
I could write a 1000 things more about plants, their spiritual meaning and the many uses and history around the world. But that is for later
