None of this is meant to diagnose, treat, or cure a medical disease. I am using herbal folklore traditions with magickal herbalism and should not be used to replace medical care and treatment with a doctor.
Today I’m home watching my kiddo with a fever while working with some medicinal and magickal herbs while focusing on a section for my upcoming Hedgewitchery, Brews and Potions class. I’ve been thinking about and planning on teaching this as a class for quite a long time but since I am a maker of a witchy skincare and metaphysical product line, I also try and keep some of those secrects safe.
What I have learned over the years is that not everyone understands the difference between traditional herbalism and magickal herbalism. They can be used in the same fashion but one is not the other. Traditional herbalism can range in origin (Chinese, Ayurvedic, Celtic, indigenous, etc.), but uses plants internally, or topically to help aid in the healing process. This is commonly passed down folklore healing that your mom or grandmother would use when you had an upset stomach or needed to stop an itch from a bug bite. Today I continue that practice, by me giving my kiddo a tea party, featuring licorice or elderflower tea to keep her fever in check.
It is important to remember there is NO certification/license for traditional herbalism. You can be educated in such, but that paper is not recognized by the government here in America. As you get into your hedgewitchery path, remember it is illegal to make “medical claims” for use of traditional herbs or magickal herbs. There is a fine line on terminology when it comes to all things ingestible as well as topical. Things like toothpaste, are actually considered a drug because it is meant to treat and prevent tooth decay. Strangely enough, if tooth “scrub” is in powder form and no medical claims are made, one can legally make and actually sell this product as a cosmetic. All cosmetics are regulated by the FDA and they take these claims very seriously. However, making items for personal use are totally fair game.
When I consider how to use plants in my home or commercial product line, I consider both the herbal intention as well as the magickal intention.
Let’s take something very common like lavender.
It is a flower that has aromatherapy properties and can calm the mind at the end of a long day. Lavandula angustifolia (formerly Lavandula officinalis) is also something that can sooth irritated skin or calm a bruise. Other interesting properties is pests and rodents don’t really like the scent of lavender. It is a plant that can be used in the garden, strategically placed to ward away insects and mice. The bees love this plant and as long as you are not allergic, it is a heavenly, masculine flowered scent that is a win-win. Real, English lavender is edible, whilst some hybrid variants, such as lavendula are suggested to be used only with aromatherapy or skincare uses. As a maker, I prefer to use the real stuff because I find it has a milder scent and does help with the above topical conditions as well. It has tons of uses from flavoring ice-cream, or burning as an incense. It is commonly used in skincare as well as perfume since it is a flexible base note scent profile.
Real lavender essential oil is one of the few essential oils that can be applied ‘neat’ to the skin (not thinned down with a carrier oil, and only with a drop or two). It takes bucket-loads of plants to make an essential oil so keep this in mind when venturing into the use of essential oils. As a former roller derby player, it saved me from many abrasions and helped speed up the healing process from massive bruising. However, overused, lavender essential oil can cause headaches, a neurotic response, and a sense of unease. Never ingest essential oils. It is important to re-iterate this because there is lots of dis-information out there that essential oils can cure or prevent things. Properly used they can be fantastic. I use them in many of my products, but they are not the same as a fragrance, and more is not better. Always educate yourself and use caution. It is lovely to have as a diffused scent in your home but is actually mildy toxic to cats, due to their inability to process all of the chemical make-up of the flower through their liver.
From a magickal perspective, lavender is said to help with protection, purification, peace, adding longevity and happiness. It is aligned with Mercury, and thus is used for visions, fertility/chastity, or in combination with other herbs, to attract Fae energies. Deities associated with lavender include: Cernunnos, Hecate, Medea, Saturn, and Serpent Goddesses. When discussing astrology, Mercury rules both Gemini and Virgo and could be a powerful allie for those wishing to help balance the dualities of these signs. One may also wish to use lavender magically during something like the dreaded Mercury Retrograde.
I am pretty much a hater when it comes to the gatekeeper mentality. There are rituals and spells out there for including lavender in your work, but please look at these as guidelines of what worked for someone else, when using ingredients and steps for magickal workings. I can’t tell you how many times people come into my store upset because they ruined their spell by not being able to find Rowan in Portland. That said, use my spell loosely. Destroy it until you don’t recognize it and make it your own.
Instead, let me leave you with a small, practical ritual and recipe for working with lavender both traditionally and magickally.
1) Go to your local garden, farmer’s market, or plant shop and locate yourself some dried or fresh lavender flowers. (Pay attention to the variant so you know it’s possible uses, whether or not it is safe to cook with or should stick to topical uses)
2) Separate the flowers from the stems and collect into a swath of cloth.
3) Really feel out what the lavender energetically “feels like”. How does it smell? Does it bring back memories? What magical intention would you like it to have? Protection, bringing calm and balance, visions?
Is there another ingredient missing? Is is a crystal, a photo, another plant ally?
4) While folding and tying or stitching your swath of cloth, say a little incantation while you make your herbal pouch; setting your intentions. This can be simple like “Hecate, aid me in this journey when I use this herb. Help me to find my answers about ________”.
5) Spend at least 15 minutes meditating with your herbal pouch, smelling it, mulling over the answers you seek. Ask your guides or your named deity from when you made your pouch to help.
6) Place the satchel inside your pillow case and trust what you are looking for is set in both intentions or help will come in the dream world. If you would like you could also align this with a day associated with Mercurial magick (Wednesday) and planetary hour (8 am or 8 pm). If that won’t work with your schedule or it doesn’t align with your practice, don’t use it!
7) Sleep on it. Literally!
8) The next day, take a bath with the same pouch and re-open up the intention channel. Bath-time magick is one of the most relaxing and conducive way to channel your magick.
9) When you are finished, un-stich, or unfold your pouch and return the herbal contents to the earth. This can be via compost or in your garden. Take any of your magickal additions out to be used another time.
This is just a sample of what I am offering in my upcoming Portland class at Queen Meb, Hedgewitchery, Brews, and Potions, and ultimately a larger course online at THoT: The School of Ritual.
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None of this is meant to diagnose, treat, or cure a medical disease. I am using herbal folklore traditions with magickal herbalism and should not be used to replace medical care and treatment with a doctor. Today I’m home watching my kiddo with a fever while working with some medicinal and magickal herbs while focusing […] -
None of this is meant to diagnose, treat, or cure a medical disease. I am using herbal folklore traditions with magickal herbalism and should not be used to replace medical care and treatment with a doctor. Today I’m home watching my kiddo with a fever while working with some medicinal and magickal herbs while focusing […] -
None of this is meant to diagnose, treat, or cure a medical disease. I am using herbal folklore traditions with magickal herbalism and should not be used to replace medical care and treatment with a doctor. Today I’m home watching my kiddo with a fever while working with some medicinal and magickal herbs while focusing […] -
“All that fire, all that pain.
Perhaps the visit from my ex through this thinning veil was more about me than them not being able to move on? I had to do some serious inventory here and allow the crystals and trance-like state to bring up these feelings to even expose them. I needed help getting rid of them because my growth as a partner will depend on it.
Once I had identified this pain, I noticed it sitting on my heart, like a scar. It felt foreign and not meant to be there. I asked Santa Muerte to help me, in which she confirmed simply as pain. I asked her to take it from me and she willingly did.
I then energetically removed my old skin, and handed it off to her to throw onto the pile to burn.
I invite you to do the same.”
New writing today for a full moon ritual by yours truly, Erika Fortner of #thehouseoftwigs Q. Meb – Queen Meb and Keven Craft Rituals – ‘Kəvən
Chiron, Saturn, and Mars; A Ritual to Shed Your Skin with the Full Moon
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None of this is meant to diagnose, treat, or cure a medical disease. I am using herbal folklore traditions with magickal herbalism and should not be used to replace medical care and treatment with a doctor. Today I’m home watching my kiddo with a fever while working with some medicinal and magickal herbs while focusing […]
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