Tryskelion

The first recorded mention of Alfalfa is in a book on plants by the Emperor of China in 2939 BC. It is grown for fodder, has unusually high amounts of vitamins U, D, K, A & E, and eight important digestive enzymes.

Drunk daily as a Tea it improves the appetite, aids in the cure of peptic ulcers, in a diuretic for the kidneys, and aids in bowel regulation. It also contains lots of line and phosphorus, can relieve the dropsy, helps narcotics and alcoholics reduce addiction, and has a stimulating effect on the growth of supportive connective tissue cells. The sprouts are delicious and contain more protein than wheat and corn.

Native of the West Indies. The dried berry is used in cooking and in making potpourris. The berry has an anesthetic effect when used in ointments and bath herbs.

Magical Correspondences:

Allspice is burned as an Incense to attract money or luck, and is also added to such mixtures. It can also be used to promote healing.

The almond has sweetly scented flowers in spring. The ripe almonds are ground into a meal and used in facial scrubs for their cleansing, slightly bleaching action. Oil of almond is used in fine cosmetics as a particularly good emollient. It is used as well for cooking and polishing furniture. Oil of bitter almond is used to flavor essences (after the prussic acid has been removed) and to scent fine cosmetics.

Magical Correspondences:

Almonds, as well as the leaves and wood of the tree, are used in prosperity spells. Additionally climbing an almond tree is said to ensure success in business ventures.

The juice exuded from aloe leaves is used as a purgative or cathartic for persons of sedentary habits and phlegmatic constitutions, but requires the addition of carminative to moderate its tendency to constipate. It is also extremely bitter to the taste. Because it is such a soothing liquid, the juice is also used externally in many cosmetics for healing stubborn X-ray burns, all sorts of skin problems, sunburn, burns and insect bites. Grow it in your kitchen for immediate access in case of burns.

Magical Correspondences:

The Aloe is popular as a houseplant not only for its medicinal purposes, but because it is thought to guard against negative influences and to help prevent household accidents. In Africa the aloe is hung over houses and doors to drive away negative forces and draw luck.

In Mexico, large wreathes made of whole garlic bulbs strung on wire are festooned with pictures of saints, packets of magical herbs, lodestones, rock salt, pine nuts and clumps of freshly-cut aloe. These are hung up in the home for protection, luck, money, and so on.

Also called storksbill or wild geranium. The Blackfeet Indians steeped alum in water for an eyewash and pounded up the root and applied it wet to sores and swellings. It is a very powerful astringent and is mixed with herbs, such as Yarrow and plantain, as a douche juice, or mixed with sage to heal canker sores. It is used in medicine, deodorants and as a mordant in dying. Boiled in water and mixed with sugar and milk, it is easily administered to children as an astringent without bitterness or bad taste.

Also called Huahtli, Velvet Flower, Red Cockscomb, Flower of immortality. A flowering herb used as an astringent and very much recommended in diarrhea, dysentery, and hemorrhages from the bowels. It has also been used for hundreds of years for profuse menstruation. The decoction is drunk a teacupful at a time or applied externally for ulcerated conditions of the throat and mouth.

The plant was associated with immortality, its name coming from the Greek word meaning 'unwithering'. In ancient Greece the amaranth was sacred to the Ephesian Artemis. it was supposed to have special healing properties and as a symbol of immortality was used to decorate images of the Divinities and tombs. Ground to a powder it has been used in potions to curb the affections.

An aromatic herb belonging to the carrot family. The oil is used as a carminative (to expel gas and flatulence) and to flavor liqueurs. The seeds are used in herbal facial packs and to flavor bread and rolls. A few seeds dropped into a glass of hot milk can be taken for insomnia.

Magical Properties:

Anise is often used inside of 'Dream-pillows' to ensure sound sleep and prevent nightmares (use the seeds for this purpose). Also used for protection and meditation incense. Anise seeds are used in purification baths, especially with bay leaves.

Used externally in herb baths and in Ointments for chapped lips and irritated nasal passages. It should not be taken internally as it is an irritant and can be poisonous. The ointment is made with 1 ounce of Arnica and an ounce of olive oil and should be STRAINED with cheesecloth to ensure the plant matter is removed.

Native to the Americas and the West Indies, it is used as a deulcent and is superior nutritive food for children and invalids as it is easy to take and is pleasant tasting. It contains about 82 percent starch. Boil about 1 tablespoon arrowroot in 2 cups of milk or water and season to taste with lemon juice to make a tasty jelly, or else boil 1 tablespoon in 2 cups fruit juice. It was used by the American Indians to heal wounds from poisoned arrows, thus its name.

Also called devils dung because of its foul smell and taste, is used as a stimulant, an expectorant, and for hysteria and spasmodic nervous diseases. In the East it is used in sauces for the flavoring of foods as one would garlic or onions [It smells LOTS worse though, and the taste is often disgusting at first].

In magic it is often used as a banishing herb for incense in EXTREME cases of need (Believe me, it will banish ANYTHING for quite a ways, including most of the coven/group using it.)

Magical Correspondences:

Also, Sweet balm, Lemon Balm, Garden Balm, Melissa. The name Melissa comes from the Greek meaning Bee, which indicates this herb's long-recognized fine bee-attracting capacity. For this reason it was an old favorite for planting around hives. John Gerard mentions that in the sixteenth century the leaves were even rubbed upon the hives in an effort to keep the bees happy. The plant posseses a short root and a squarish stem (when cut sectionally) with joint pairs of toothed, heart-shaped, or oval leaves sprouting on either side of it. Both the leaves and the creamy yellow flowers give off a strong lemony smell when crushed. Though the leaves and stems die off each year, the root is perennial, which makes it a good choice for your herb garden. It will thrive in any type of soil, and can be grown from seed, seedling, root division in spring or fall, or cutting (if you are clever). Like most of the simples, it requires the absolute minimum attention : just make sure it has enough water, gets weeded from time to time, and has its straggling dead wood cut back in the fall. (You might also want to stir the earth between its roots once or twice a year).

Balm has been used from time immemorial as a wound dressing, for it is rich in ozone and therefore strongly antiputrescent It also makes a flavorful and mildly sedative tea to aid in opening the pores to reduce fevers produced by Flu or chest colds.

Balm tea: Infuse 2 teaspoons dried herb in 1 covered cup boiling water for 15 minutes (Or 1 ounce herb to 1 pint boiling water if a larger quantity is required). Strain, and flavor with sugar or honey and a twist of lemon, if desired, before drinking.

Also, Ocimum basilicum, St. Josephswort, sweet basil. Once native to India and Persia only, and still a sacred herb to the Hindus, basil is an annual plant much used now in Mediterranean cookery. It grows up to 2 feet in height, and its one drawback is that it must be raised from seed or seedling each year. It likes a rich moist soil with plenty of sun. You can buy various types of basil besides the "sweet" variety, the other most popular being "bush" basil. All posses the same properties, however. The herb grows with a square stem in section; smooth, slightly toothed, oval leaves, which give off a strong clove fragrance when crushed; and white, pink or red whorls of flowers which nestle in the axils of the elaves (where the leaf joins the stem).

Basil contains an aromatic and volitile camphor-bearing oil which gives it its marvelous clove-like fragrance and accounts for its use in cooking, potpourris and perfumery. A delicious tea can also be prepared from the leaves which is though to allay mild nervous tension headaches and nausea.

Basil Tea: Infuse 1 teaspoon dried herb in 1 covered cup boiling water. strain, and flavor with honey if desired. Upto 1 or 2 cups a day may be taken.

Also called sweet Bay or noble laurel. Bay oil can be used in the ears for earaches, to relieve the pain of bruises and to soothe itchy skin. In the past, a decoction of the leaves was used to bring on menses, to ease childbirth and speed delivery, but too much is thought to cause abortion and thus avoided.

Bay Laurel sprinkled on a carpet an/or in the corners of a room is said to help keep fleas away.

American Indian Shamans have used bay leaves in hot baths for the reduction of rheumatism pain.

Also, Monarda, Monarda didyma, Scarlet Monarda, Oswego tea, bee balm, Red bee balm. This prolific perennial herb bears scarlet flowers beloved by bees for their nectar. It's hard, square, grooved stems grow up to 3 feet tall, and the rough, dark, paired leaves which branch off from them, when crushed, exude an exotic fragrance strongly reminiscent of bergamot oranges. Bergamot is very easy to grow, perferring a light moist soil in either sun or shade. However, as with all the other mints, you will have to keep an eye on its roots to make sure they do not begin to strangle your other herbs. (Many gardners plant mints in boxes or pots only for this very reason). Such is the exuberance of the bergamot, you will probably be able to divide it every 3 years, keeping one clump and giving away the others to your friends.

Bergamot is a rich source of thymol, an aromatic antiseptic substance used extensively in modern medicine and dentistry. The chief value of the herb for the herbalist, however, is as an infusion to benefit an upset stomache, nausea, and vomiting.

Tea: Infuse 1 teaspoon dried bergamot in 1 covered cup boiling water for fifteen minutes. Strain and add honey to flavour.

Also called wood betony, Lousewort. Betony Tea, is useful as a dream repressant. This plant grows wild in the woods, in shady places. The root is not used as it tastes horrible and induces vomiting. It is usually regarded as an aromatic herb, useful for its astringent properties. Tincture of Betony is used in the treatment of allergic rhinitis and hay fever. Water betony, also called brownwort or Bishop's leaves is a different plant entirely.

Magical Correspondences:

Betony is often added to purification and protection mixtures, satchets, and incenses. It is also an old tradition to burn it on a bonfire on Midsummer and then jump through the smoke to help purify the body of ills and negative energy.

Betony is also grown in gardens to protect the home, and is scattered near doors and windows. This forms a kind of protective wall or living ward around the property thru none with harmful intent may pass.

Betony is said to be a good plant to carry when making love advances, and is said to reunite quarreling couples if the plant is added to food.

Old Herbals also talk of it being a cure for the mysterious disease known as 'elf-sickness'

A tree common to Europe and North America. The bark peels off horizontally into thin sheets of varying hues and textures and was used by some North American Indians in the making of canoes; it was also used as the skin of some World War II planes. Some species are important timber trees. The wood is hard and reddish-brown and is made into furniture and plywood. Bruise the twigs and it smells like wintergreen. Commercial birch oil is marketed as oil of wintergreen and used as a counterirritant for sore and stiff muscles and joints. Some mix this oil with other aromatic oils and use the combination as an insect repellant (Spread over the body). A decoction of the leaves is used as a diuretic, is said to break kidney stones and is gargled for sore mouths and canker sores. The dose is one teaspoon to a cup of boiling water. Birch leaf is also important as a gentle sedative. Drunk at night it encourages quiet peaceful sleep with no druglike hangover.

[also called Goose Leek or Daffodil] belongs to the lily family. In Greek legend it was identified with the dead and the underworld: it was planted on graves and associated with Persephone. The narcissus is the asphodel of the poets. In the past tea was made from the roots and drunk to provoke menstrual flow, and was boiled with myrrh to be used as an eye strengthener. It is fatal to mice.

In magic the flower is placed in the altar during love drawing spells, or is carried or worn in a woman's hair for this same purpose (common as hair decorations at Beltane).

This herb contains much potassium and is used as a demulcent, emollient, diuretic, and diaphoretic. It grows in Europe, and the United States - a pretty annual that reaches a height of 1 to 3 feet in height. Its round stems are branched, hollow, and full of juice; its pointed oval leaves are dark or gray-green and wrinkled. The entire plant is covered with a bristly silvery-gray down, and its blue star shaped flowers hang in leafy clusters from the end of the stems. It does well in poor soil in either sun or shade with medium watering and will seed itself as well, although it can be grown from clippings.

The seeds and leaves have been used to increase milk in mothers, to expel pensiveness and melancholy, to reduce fevers, and to treat lung problems. The fresh herb is made into an eyewash for inflammation and redness and into a poultice for all other sorts of inflammations. The fresh flowers are used in salads and impart a cucumber-like flavor. The ashes of the herb are boiled in mead and used as a gargle for sore throats. In France, a tisane (an infusion of the flowers) is used for feverish colds.

In magic a tea of this is said to aid psychic awareness an ability.

[In some persons, Borage taken internally may cause an allergic reaction]

Also called German madwort or the European hawkweed, grows just about anywhere. This herb is used in a tea as an expectorant, a diuretic, a diaphoretic and for nervous complaints such as tension or melancholy. It is also useful as an emollient in oils for bruises and other skin hurts.

Also called love leaves, beggar's buttons, harebur. The principles of velcro fasteners were taken from burdock. Gardeners use it to restore minerals to topsoil. Burdock is found throughout Europe, Asia and North America. The stalk is useable in soups as ordinary food. The leaves are bitter and should not be bothered with - leave them to decompose and fertilize the soil if you are digging up the plant in the wild. The root is sweet to the taste; its entirely white when it sprouts but as it grows the outer layer attains a dark brown to black coloration.

The root is used medicinally for its properties as an astringent, blood purifier, and anti-rheumatic usage.

In tea dose should be no more than 2 cups a day.

Also called sweet wood bark, is the aromatic bark of a West Indian shrub. it tastes bitter, is fragrant when burned, and is used for fumigating, in incense, and in tobacco to make an aromatic mixture.

Use it as a tonic for indigestion, flatulence and diarrhea, to prevent vomiting, and when convalescing from an acute disease. It is vastly inferior to cinchona though it is often combined with it. The Infusion of one ounce to one pint of boiling water, steeped 20 minutes and strained, is taken a spoonful at a time.

Also called gum camphor and laurel camphor, is a colorless crystalline mass, with a characteristic mothball odor, obtained by passing steam through the wood of the camphor tree indigenous to Formosa. The tree resembles the linden and the sassafras.

Both the wood and the resultant camphor are repellant to insects and can be kept in closets and closed trunks to keep away moths and bugs. It has been used for fevers, hysterical complaints, rheumatic pains and gout and is useful in all irritating conditions of the sexual apparatus. It was not known to the Greeks or Romans, although the people in Arabia used it to lessen sexual desire.

It is used externally as a wash or liniment for bruises, sprains, strains, and pains; for nervousness, toothache and headache. It can be poisonous if too much is taken internally or inhaled and may cause vomiting, pallor, cold, confusion, and delirium. Give water if this occurs at once; induce vomiting; follow with alcohol, coffee, cold, artificial heal, opium and bromides for the convulsions.

Is the fruit of a biennial herb of the carrot family. Its oil is obtained by distillation and used in medicine as an aromatic, a stimulant and a carminative. It is useful as an anaesthetic for toothache (Place a piece of cotton soaked in the oil into the cavity area). A powder of the seed can be put into a poultice for blows and bruises. Also used in various sachets.

Is Chinese cinnamon, as opposed to Ceylon cinnamon, and is used as a tonic, a stomachic, a carminative, in incense and in potpourris.

Also called Catnep, Catmint, Nip. Catnip belongs to the enormous family of mints and, like its relatives, possesses the same square (in section) stems and branches. Growing up to 3 feet in height, this rugged perennial, once a native of Europe and Asia but now found in the United States, bears grayish downy heart-shaped or oval leaves, and little spikes of whitish or pink flowers. It needs only a regular soil, and hardly any watering in which to flourish but, like all mints, will take over your garden if you give it half a chance. You can break up your clumps of catnip in spring or fall and throw out the older wood, or keep slips of root for planting elsewhere.

Cats, of course, are given a 'high' as a stimulant, from this plant, while rats detest it thoroughly and will avoid it.

Catnip is stomachic (soothing to an upset stomache) and diaphoretic in effect, but its properties as a sedative outweigh both these uses.

A Mild Sedative can be made by infusing in a covered pot 1 ounce of dried catnip to 1 pint boiling water. Flavor if desired with honey.

NOTE that catnip Tea when drunk warm in large quantities can have an emetic effect on some people.

Tonic Catnip Blends

1) Mix together

Infuse 1 teaspoon blend in 1 covered cup of boiling water. Strain after 10 minutes and sweeten with honey if required. Drink 1 glassful 3 times a day and before going to bed.

2) Mix together

Prepare the same way as the first blend.

3) Mix together

Infuse 1 teaspoon in a covered cup of boiling water for 15 minutes, strain and flavor with honey if required. Drink 1 lukewarm cup upto 4 times a day.

Some cedar trees grow as old as two thousand years. The cedar of Lebanon is the best known cedar because of its frequent appearance in the Christian Bible as a symbol of power and longevity.

The aromatic wood has been made into pillars, coffins, instruments, and all sorts of furniture, as it is water and decay resistant and repels insects and moths. In the United States cedars are grown in California, in some of the southern states and as far north as southern New England.

Cedar is useful in Satchets and in incenses.

Rub the fresh juice of this plant mixed with vinegar on any itchy place; its good for eczema and other such skin diseases. You can also apply the juice to ringworm and to warts and corns. Mix it with powder of brimstone to remove any discolorations of the skin. An ointment made by simmering the herb in olive oil can be used to anoint sore eyes. (Celandine mixed with mother's milk has also been used for sore eyes)

The powdered dried root placed on an aching, loose tooth is said to make it fall out. The Fresh root and herb, bruised and bathed with oil of chamomile, and applied to the stomache will ease the pain of a stomachache. It is boiled in white wine and drunk with a few anise seeds for obstructions of the liver and gall bladder.

[There is a slight possibility of an allergic reaction to this herb. A tiny test amount should be used first to establish wether a reaction will occur to avoid problems.]

The herb and leaves have been used as a tonic, a febrifuge, a diaphoretic, and a stomachic and for rheumatism, sore throat and fevers.

It is said to help sciatica, kill worms in the belly, and ease joint pains and gout. A decoction of the leaves and flowers has been drunk for colic, to bring on menstruation and to ease childbirth pain.

Externally, you can use a lotion for freckles, spots and marks on the skin.

Chamomile is used in bath herbs and in face lotions to firm the tissues, keep the skin young looking, brighten the eyes and relieve weariness. A decoction of this plant is used as an antispasmodic, a diaphoretic, a nervine and for hysterical or nervous afflictions. If drunk before bed it will help you fall asleep. It is also excellent for dissolving kidney stones, and with sugar its good for the spleen.

A simple way to make chamomile oil, according to the Egyptians, is to take fresh flowers (1 Ounce) and beat them up with pure olive oil. Steep the flowers in the oil for 24 hours or more, until their virtues have been extracted. Then strain. This can be used to rub over the body of a person afflicted with ague or rheumatism or for massaging overstrained or cramped muscles. Chamomile grown in the garden helps keep away harmful insects, but must be weeded by hand as it is easily strangled.

If you make a Tea from it be sure the container is covered while in use or part of the properties of the plant will be lost.

In magic it is used for sleep and meditation incenses.

Also called Black Cohosh, rattleroot, and squaw root, is a native of the United States and was first used by the Various Indian Tribal Shamans. It is used as an alternative and sedative to the aterial and nervous systems. As a cardiac stimulant it is safer than digitalis. It acts as an emetic, and is also used to contract the uterus, for chronic bronchitis, hysteria, wasting diseases and for rheumatism.

It is slightly narcotic, and large doses can causes vertigo, tremors, reduced pulse, and vomiting. The leaves are said to drive away bugs if laid about a room.

Also called Peruvian bark and Jesuit's bark. This bark is a natural source of the drug quinine. The percentage of quinine in the bark varies from valley to valley and consequently it was at first difficult to ascertain if indeed cinchona or quinine was a specific for malaria.

Its medicinal value was unknown to the Incas in whose valleys it grew, and it was the Jesuits who figured out the secret of the bark. However, they kept the location and news about it to themselves as long as they could and then sold the formula for its weight in silver (One wonders why they did so; considering their Christian belief, they should have GIVEN it away). The Dutch then began to cultivate the tree in Java and through their skillful handling, Java is now the world source of this drug.

Quinine is an Antiseptic. It prevents fermentation and putrefaction and is used in tooth powders. Small doses increase the appetite, saliva, gastric juice, and heart action; moderate doses interfere with the oxygen carrying function of the red corpuscles. It lessens fever by destroying or rendering inert the infective agent.

Quinine is also used medically now for the treatment of leg cramps in several commercial products available over the counter, aimed primarily at atheletes and persons suffering night-time leg cramp problems.

Quinine is a specific for malaria, acting as a direct poison to the Plasmodium Malarie which causes the disease. It is also given to stimulate uterine contractions in labor.

Also called mecca balsam or simply balsam. These buds are used in a tea as a stimulating expectorant and for all related problems of the respiratory system. They are simmered with oil and used as a nasal salve and as a dressing for burns or sunburn, skin diseases, and rheumatic pains.

Steep the buds in Jamaican rum and use locally to heal cuts and bruises. If a teaspoon is drunk before every meal it will give relief to a weakened system.

Magical Uses:

Carried in satchets for protection and healing purposes. Steep in red wine for a simple love attraction drink. Burn in a wood fire for ritual purposes and manifestations.