Herbs and Magick
Herbs are used in magick for their “vibrations” or “essences”. What does this mean? Herbs, like people, have gender, are ruled by a planet, an element, and are often sacred to a God or Goddess. This is known in Wicca as the herbal correspondence, and it is an important element in Wiccan Magick Spells. Growing and nurturing herbs in your own magickal garden can give you the advantage of having your own energies already influencing the plant. A plant such as Angelica, ruled by the Sun, will then have all of the influence of the Sun and fire, along with your personal energies.
Charms and sachets – Fill a small bag, of the correct color or material, with herbs to make a charm or sachet. You can carry the charm with you, hang it in the house or car, or bury or burn it, depending on the purpose, and the spell you are performing.
Incense- Herbs can be burned as a ritual incense, such as the sage smudge used to clear negative vibrations from a space.
Bath – Make a sachet, and place it in your ritual or healing bath. Fragrant herbs like lavender make a very relaxing bath, and you can use certain herbs to alleviate skin and other conditions, such as using eucalyptus in a bath when you have a cold or flu.
Oils – Place herbs in an oil, let them steep for a few days, then strain. You can make annointing oils for you ritual work, beauty oils for your hair, skin and nails (try coconut or jojoba), or flavor oils for cooking and seasoning, such as steeping rosemary in olive oil.
Teas- Use herbs to make teas for healing illness. Some herbs can be used to mildly alter consciousness, such as valerian or kava kava which can facilitate trance like states.
Smoking- You can make herbal smoking mixtures which will also facilitate altered states of consciousness.
In spellwork, herbs can be sprinkled or placed around or within boundaries (such as your home, altar, or magick circle) to define a “territory” for your magick to work. Of course, you can always use flavorful herbs in cooking and seasoning your food. There are many healthful benefits, and they taste great! Always give all plant life respect, where ever you are- remember, the word “weed” is simply a value judgement! Dandelion, for instance, has many, many healing and nutritional qualities which are extremely beneficial not only to the wildlife which feeds on it, but to you, too! Learn to recognize the herbs around you- even in a city, there are many wonderful herbs growing wild, which you can gather and use. Herbs are Nature’s gift- use them with wisedom and joy!
Below are more than 60 herbs commonly found in the kitchen, and the most popular and useful herbs in Wicca. Available herbs are conveniently hyperlinked.
Angelica Root
Sun Fire Masculine
Use in protection and exorcism incense, and also carry the root in a pouch as a protective talisman. Add to bath to remove hexes. Smoking the leaves can cause visions. Angelica protects by both creating a barrier against negative energy, and by filling it’s user with positive energy. Removes curses, hexes, or spells that have been cast against you. Enhances the aura, giving a joyful outlook. Relieves tension headache, diuretic, beneficial to the stomach and digestion. Relieves buildup of phlegm due to asthma and bronchitis. Use with caution- Large doses can negatively affect blood pressure, heart, and respiration. If pregnant, can cause miscarriage.
Basil
Mars Fire Masculine
Use in love and prosperity spells. Carry to attract wealth. Sprinkle basil over your sleeping lover to assure fidelity. Use it in a ritual bath to bring new love in, or to free yourself of an old love. Also used for purification baths. Sprinkle on the floor for protection, and burn as an exorcism incense.
Bay Leaves
Sun Fire Masculine
Use in potions for visions, clairvoyance and wisdom. Place under your pillow to induce prophetic dreams. Carry to ward off evil, and scatter or burn for exorcism. Add to cleansing teas and baths. Scatter on the floor, and then sweep out for protection. The priestesses at Delphi are said to have chewed bay leaves to induce their visions and prophesies.
Blessed Thistle
Mars Fire Masculine
Purification, hex-breaking, protection from evil- removes unwanted influences, particularly of malevolent intent. Strew to cleanse buildings or rooms, beneficial in healing spells. Strengthens liver function, combat hepatitis, aids memory purifies the blood stream. Good fof migraine, nausea, and gallstones.
Burdock
Venus Water Feminine
Used in protection incenses and for healing, especially the feet. Carry as a protection sachet or burn for purification of a room. Rinse with a root decoction for ridding oneself of a gloomy feeling about yourself or others.
Bramble (Blackberry) Leaf
Venus Water Feminine
Powerful herb of protection, and used in invocations to the goddess Brigit, who presides over healing, poetry, sacred wells, and smithcraft. Also used to attract wealth. If twined into a wreath with rowan and ivy, will keep away evil spirits. A bramble patch is a favorite hiding place for faerie folk, use to invoke and attract faerie spirits.
Cacao (Chocolate)
Venus Water Feminine
The Aztec’s Food of the Gods. An aphrodisiac, a mild euphoric, and helps to heal depression. It is extremely effective in love potions and spells. Cacao is a required offering during Day of the Dead, can be used to appease restless spirits, or attract passed loved ones during seance.
Camellia
Moon Water Feminine
Brings riches and luxury, expresses gratitude. Place fresh blossoms in water on altar during ritual to attract money and prosperity. Used in traditional Chinese medicine for treating skin conditions.
Caraway
Mercury Air Masculine
Carry for protection against spirits who mean harm, especially Lilith. The seeds can be used to ensure faithfulness, and can be used in spells to attract a lover. Used in cooking, will induce lust.
Carob
Mars Fire Masculine
Often used as a chocolate substitute, but although the flavor is similar, the correspondences are opposite. Useful for protection and prosperity (the dried pods were once used as currency). Can be burned as an incense to attract spirit helpers and familiars, or to deter poltergeists.
Catnip
Water Venus Feminine
Animal magick and healing pets, increases psychic bond with animals. Use as a tea for happiness and relaxation. Can also be used during meditation, increases psychic abilities. Useful in love magick- try burning dried leaves for love wishes.
Cayenne Pepper
Mars Fire Masculine
Use in hexes, or to break a hex. Use in love or separation spells. The fire or spark of the spirit, it adds power to any spell. Contains capsaicin, which acts as a stimulating digestive aid. Apply externally for joint pain. Aids circulation, blood pressure, and colds. Those with ulcers or chronic bowel disorders should avoid using in large quantities.
Cedar
Sun Fire Masculine
Healing, purification, money, protection, love. Cedar smoke is purifying and can cure nightmares. Keep cedar in your wallet or purse to attract money, and use in money incense. It can also be used in love sachets or burned to induce psychic powers. Use to draw Earth energy and grounding.
Chamomile
Sun Water Masculine
Chamomile tea is a great relaxer. Prosperity wishes, use to attract money, use as an amulet for prosperity. Use in sleep and meditation incense. Prepares body and mind for magick. Add to a bath or use to wash your face and hair to attract love. Bathe children in chamomile tea to protect from the evil eye, useful in breaking curses cast against you.
Cinnamon
Sun Fire Masculine
Spirituality, success, healing, psychic powers, lust, protection, love. Burn cinnamon as an incense or use in sachets and spells for healing, money-drawing, psychic powers, and protection. Mix with frankincense, myrhh and sandalwood for a strong protection incense to be burned every day. A male aphrodisiac.
Cloves
Jupiter Fire Masculine
Protection, exorcism, love, money, good luck. Use in incense to attract money, drive away negativity, purify, gain luck or stop gossip. Wear to attract the opposite sex or for protection. Worn or carried to repel negative energies around you, also said to protect babies in their cribs if hung over them strung together.
Coltsfoot
Venus Water Feminine
Add to love sachets and use in spells for peace and tranquility. Smoke the leaves to aid in obtaining visions. A soothing expectorant and anti-spasmodic, which can be used to treat bronchitis, whooping cough, asthma, and chronic emphysema. Caution: Do not use if pregnant or nursing!
Cumin
Mars Fire Masculine
Burn with frankincense for protection. Mix with salt and scatter to keep away evil spirits and bad luck. Use in love spells. Steep cumin seed in wine to induce lust. Place the seeds on, in or near an object to prevent left. Burn with frankincense for protection.
Red Clover
Mercury Air Masculine
Protection, money, love, fidelity, exorcism, success, clairvoyance, beauty. Brings good luck. Induces clairvoyant powers. Use for rituals to enhance beauty and youth.
Comfrey Leaf
Air Saturn Feminine
A strong herb for protection against any type of negativity, especially when traveling, and particularly for protection in the astral realms. Very nutritious, beneficial for healing sprains, strains, fractures and sores. Also soothes an upset stomach.
Damiana
Mars Fire Masculine
Sex magick, lust, love, visions. Use in lust spells. Use in love baths. Burn to enhance visions. Damiana can be prepared in a tea for use in sex magick. It is a mild aphrodisiac. It produces a marijuana-like euphoria when smoked. Good for enchanting a male lover. Damiana tea is the best thing for hangovers. Use caution with this herb.
Dandelion Leaf
Jupiter Air Masculine
Divination, wishes, calling Spirits. Use the root in a tea to enhance psychic powers. Used in Samhain rituals. Sleep, protection, healing. A very nutritious and universally beneficial herb. Use in dream pillows and sachets, the leaves and flowers can be used in tea for healing.
Dill
Mercury Fire Masculine
Hang in the doorway to protect your home, or carry to protect your person. Can be used in money spells. Add to a ritual bath to become irresistible to the one you desire. Use in love and lust spells.
Eucalyptus Leaf
Air Moon Feminine
Uses include great healing properties, kills germs, infections, eases lung congestion, heart stimulant. Attracts healing vibrations and protection. Use to purify and cleanse any space of unwanted energies. Also useful in dream and sleep pillows.
Fennel Seed
Mercury Fire Masculine
Healing, longevity, courage, vitality, virility and strength. Use for protection spells of all kinds. Prevents curses, possession and negativity. Use for purification. Gives strength, courage and longevity. Delicious flavor, purifies breath, aids digestion and weight loss.
Feverfew
Venus Water Feminine
Love and protection. Include in charms or sachets. Also a strong herb for health and spiritual healing. Use to ward off sickness and bolster immune system. Protects travelers, keep in your suitcase or car the next time you travel. Excellent treatment for migraine headaches- eases inflammation and constriction of the blood vessels in the head, reduces sensitivity to light and nausea.
Dried Fig
Jupiter Fire Masculine
Fertility, love spells- excellent ingredient in spell bags. Divination. Sacred to Dionysus, Juno and many others. Recommended for a Beltane altar. If placed on the doorstep before leaving it will ensure you will arrive home safely.
Flax Seed
Mercury Fire Masculine
Use to keep the peace at home- place in a bowl to absorb negative energy. Useful in healing and protection spells. Also, carry flax seeds in your wallet or purse to attract money. Very nutritious, good for cholesterol.
Galangal Root
Mars Fire Masculine
Psychic abilities, luck, money. For courage, strength, and for avoiding legal problems. Worn or carried, it protects its bearer and draws good luck. Placed in a sachet of leather with silver, it brings money. Powdered galangal is burned to break spells and curses. It is also carried or sprinkled around the home to promote lust. Worn as a talisman, galangal aids psychic development and guards the bearer’s health. A mild hallucinogen- eat about three inches of the root for this effect. Use caution with this plant.
Garlic
Ginger
Ginseng Powder
Hibiscus Flower
Holly Leaf
Hops
Horehound
Hyssop
Jupiter Fire Masculine
An excellent purifying herb. Use in purification baths and spells. Associated with serpents and dragons, and can be burned as an incense to call on dragon energy. Aids in physical and spiritual protection.
Juniper Berries
Sun Fire Masculine
Useful for protection magick of all kinds. Makes a nice incense for protection. It can be burned or carried to enhance psychic powers. Attracts good, healthy energies and love. Aids in digestion, intestinal cramps, diuretic, eases arthritis. Banishes energies injurious to good health.
Mandrake Root
Mercury Fire Masculine
Protection, love, money, fertility, health. Mandrake intensifies the magick of any spell. To charge mandrake root with your personal power, sleep with it for three nights during the full moon. A hallucinogen when used in tea- it has great power as a visionary herb, empowering your visions and propelling them into manifestation. A whole mandrake root placed in the home will bring protection and prosperity. Carried, it will attract love and couage.
Morning Glory Blossoms
Neptune Water Masculine
Happiness, peace, visions. Place under your pillow to stop nightmares and induce beneficial psychic dreams. Sacred to the Aztecs. Do not consume, toxic.
Moss
Jupiter Earth Masculine
To ensure good luck, especially with money, carry any type of moss removed from a gravestone. Use in prosperity spells, Gnome magick and spells to Mother Earth. Use in “Witch Bottles” for home and business. Place in your bra When a MALE lover is near to attract sexual attention.
Mugwort
Venus Earth Feminine
Use in dream pillows for prophetic dreams. Burn with sandalwood or wormwood in scrying rituals. Drink as a tea sweetened with honey before divination. The plain tea can also be used to wash crystal balls and magick mirrors. Leaves of mugwort can be placed around these to aid in scrying.
Mullein
Saturn Fire Feminine
Protection and courage. Keeps away demons and nightmares while sleeping, also protects against wild animals. Useful in protection and exorcism spells. Invokes spirits, use on scrying tools to aid divination. This plant is the Original Witch’s torch, used to illuminate spells and rites. Useful as an expectorant to clear and heal lungs, stops diarrhea and soothes hemeroids.
Nettles
Mars Fire Masculine
Carry to remove a curse and send it back, or sprinkle around the house to keep out evil. Use in purification baths. Highly nutritious for anemia, skin disorders and allergies, restores health, expectorant, stops bleeding. One of the nine sacred herbs of the Anglo-Saxons.
Nutmeg
Jupiter Fire Masculine
Luck, money, health. Carry for good luck, and to strengthen clairvoyant powers. Use in money and prosperity spells. A hallucinogen when made into a tea. TOXIC in large doses! Take no more than a pinch!
Orris Root
Venus Water Feminine
Love, protection, divination. Use to find and hold love- a powder made from the root is used as a love drawing powder. Protection from evil spirits. Roots and leaves hung in the house, and added to the bath are good for personal protection.
Pau d`Arco
Pluto Fire Masculine
Works best during the waning Moon- can be empowered by drawing down the Moon directly into the herb. The active ingredient is xyloidin, a very potent antibiotic and antiviral. Can relieve arthritis, asthma, bronchitis, eczema, gastritis, psoriasis, pyorrhoea, rheumatism, skin and nails, ulcers. Used to treat chronic candida. Potent tonic and cell regenerator, stimulating natural defenses and revitalizing the body. Also a sedative, an analgesic, and a diuretic.
Passion Flower
Venus Water Feminine
Promotes emotional balance, peace, attracts friendship and prosperity. Heightens libido, use in love spells. Calming and soothing, promotes emotional balance, aid in sleep. Use to relieve nerve pain and hysteria.
Pennyroyal
Mars Fire Masculine
Carry in a green bag to attract money and to aid in business transactions. Burn for protection in meditation and astral travel. Use for ridding negative thoughts against you, carry when dealing with negative vibrations of all kinds. Caution: stimulates menustration when consumed, and can induce miscarriage.
Peppermint
Mercury Fire Masculine
Purification, sleep, love, healing, psychic powers. Promotes sleep and visionary dreams. Use in healing and purification baths. Burn as a winter incense. Very useful for stomach upset and heartburn, nausea, and to ease congestion during colds and flu.
Pine
Sun Air Masculine
For sacred wisdom. Prosperity,fertility, healing.The Pine tree is an evergreen, its old title was “the sweetest of woods”. Its needles are a valuable source of vitamin C and can loosen a tight chest. The scent of Pine is useful in the alleviation of guilt. Burn for strength, and to reverse negative energies.
Raspberry Leaf
Venus Water Feminine
Protection, healing, love. Calming, promotes sleep and visions. Useful during pregnancy and childbirth, eases diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. Beneficial to the kidneys.
Rose Petals
Venus Water Feminine
Love, psychic powers, healing, luck, protection. Use in love spells of all kinds. Drink rose tea before bed for prophetic dreams. Domestic peace and happiness, promotes joy of giving. Helps clear away headaches, dizziness, mouth sores and menstrual cramps. Heart and nerve tonic.
Rose Hips
Venus Water Feminine
Rose hips are very high in Vitamin C. Rose hips also contain A, B, E, and K, organic acids and pectin, and have a high concentration of iron. The hips are strung like beads and worn to attract love. A woman should eat rose hips during her menstrual period. A woman’s lover should gather roses for this purpose. The earliest known gardening was the planting of roses along the most travelled routes of early nomadic humans.
Rosemary
Sun Fire Masculine
Protection, love, lust, mental powers, exorcism, purification, healing, sleep, youth. Burn to purify and cleanse. Use in love and lust incenses and potions. Use for healing of all kinds. A tea of rosemary causes the mind to be alert. Circulatory, digestive and nerve stimulant. Heals headache, depression, and halitosis.
Sage
Jupiter Air Masculine
Immortality, longevity, wisdom, protection, prosperity. Use in healing and money spells. Purifying, use as incense during sacred rituals-walk the smoke to the four corners of the room to repel and rid negative energies and influences. Especially good when moving into a new home. Heals wounds, aids digestion, eases muscle and joint pain, colds and fever.
Shavegrass
Scotch Broom Leaf
Seaweed
Spanish Moss
Jupiter Earth Masculine
Luck, money, banish poltergeists- To ensure good luck, especially with gambling, carry Spanish moss. Use in “Witch Bottles” for home and business. Place around home, or burn to banish poltergeists.
St. John’s Wort
Sun Fire Masculine
Health, protection, strength, love divination, happiness, exorcism. A Druid sacred herb. Use in protection and exorcism spells and incenses of all kinds. Use as a tea to treat depression. Use the leaves in a necklace to ward off sickness and tension. Carry to strengthen your courage and conviction. Burn to banish negative thoughts and energies.
Star Anise
Jupiter Air Masculine
Protection, purification, youth, psychic powers, luck. Use for protection, meditation and psychic power incenses. Can be used in purification baths. Wards off evil and averts the evil eye. A pillow stuffed with anise seeds will keep away nightmares. The tree is planted by the Japanese around temples and on graves as an herb of consecration and protection. The seeds are burned as incense to increase psychic powers, and are also worn as beads for the same purpose. Sometimes star anise is placed on the altar to give it power; one is placed to each of the four directions. It is also carried as a good luck charm, and the seeds make excellent pendulums. The tree is often grown near Buddist temples where it is revered. A stimulant and diuretic. Promotes digestion and relieves flatulence.
Tea
Sun Fire Masculine
Riches, courage, strength. Use the leaves in money sachets, incenses and spells. A stimulant. Green tea is rich in antioxidants, and other youth enhancing compounds. The leaves can be used in scrying.
Tobacco Leaf
Thistle Flower
Thyme
Valerian Root
Vanilla
White Willow Bark
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