Herb Spotlight: Dandelion

Guest post by Tori

Dandelion. Image from Botanical.com

Dandelions are everywhere and many find them to be a nuisance.  They are easy to find anywhere, at least in northeast America.  And they are free!  Which is certainly not the case with many herbs.  So why not find a use for them?

Medicinal Uses
In USDA Bulletin #8, dandelion is listed as one of the top four green vegetables when it comes to overall nutrition. They are rich in fiber, potassium, iron, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, thiamine, riboflavin, beta-carotene, and Vitamin A.  Most surprisingly of all, they are also good for protein.  And these are just what American studies through the USDA say!  Russian and Eastern European studies also give dandelions credit for nutrients like copper, cobalt, zinc, boron, vitamin D, and molybdenum.  Imagine finding all that in a week in your yard. Each one of these nutrients is important for various things and I could go into it, but what else is Wikipedia for?  If you want a more intense list of studies, uses, and other such information, here is a good website: LeafLady.org.

There is a bit of a caveat here.  For some people this won’t work as well.  Just like with any chemicals (and that’s what this all boils down to) it will interact with everyone’s bodies differently.  It may not work as well for you as it does the next person.  Also, check with your doctor before adding anything to your diet if you are sick.  Reactions with conditions or medications are always possible.

Now that you know all that you can go harvest some dandelions for your salads and sandwiches.  It’s like Popeye picking free spinach out of his yard!

Magical Uses
Dandelions are an air herb, which makes sense considering how you make a wish
when blowing on them.  They are also masculine*.  According to Cunningham, dandelions are used for divination, wishes, and calling spirits.  The seed heads can be used for both divination and wishes.  Set your parameters before you blow and see what happens.  You can also add bits of the plant to herb pouches, oils, or any of that.  Dandelions are also useful as decoration to set the mood for a divination or wish spell or ritual.

I would say that they would also be good when you are casting a spell to leave a situation gently.  If you do not want to make a big fuss, but float away to something better or just different.  The seed heads would be an excellent symbol for that.

*I can’t find anything that tells me what decides this, so if any of you know PLEASE tell me (via the comments or the site’s feedback form).  I have lots of plants I want to find associations for that are being slippery.

Sources

• Scott Cunningham’s Herb Encyclopedia
• Leaf Lady: www.leaflady.org/health_benefits_of_dandelions.htm

Herb Spotlight: Eucalyptus

Guest post by Tori

Koala bear eating eucalyptus leaves. Image from Wikipedia.

Eucalyptus is a popular scent, both for aroma therapy and for house scent things.  And koala bears love it, so we should, too!

Medicinal Uses
The health benefits of eucalyptus are in the essential oil.  It is good for treating respiratory problems, like runny nose, sore throat, asthma, and cold.  It is an antibacterial, antifungal, antimicrobial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and a decongestant.  This means it is good for wounds, burns, and ulcers, as well as insect bites and stings.  Massaging eucalyptus oil into muscles helps reduce pain.  When taken internally, it can control blood sugar.  There are lots of other uses, but listing them all here is dull, so you can check them out at the link in the sources at the bottom of the post.

Don’t take this if you have liver problems.  If you have any medical problems or pregnancy concerns make sure this is safe for you!  Please don’t just run about willy-nilly dosing yourself with stuff.

Please be cautious when using eucalyptus oil.  In large quantities, eucalyptus oil is toxic.  Be sure to read any labels on the oil for dosing information, especially when ingesting eucalyptus oil.  Consult a doctor if you should have any concerns.

Eucalyptus. Image from Botanical.com

Magical Uses
This is a water and feminine plant.  It is good for healing, protection, and peace/relaxation.  There are many ways to combine the health benefits mentioned above with magic, so keep that in mind.  I’m not sure where the protection comes from, but it may have something to do with the all the anti’s I listed.  It may also be good to use in a protection spell if you want to include the goal of calming down the individual threatening you.  If you work in a high stress field or deal with lots of people getting annoyed (such as monstrous retail customers), eucalyptus is probably perfect for your spell.  It would also be a good oil to diffuse when meditating, especially on something that may be stressful or energy draining, or after you have cast a spell.  Eucalyptus is
good for mental exhaustion and a lot of what we do tends to cause that.

Sources

• Scott Cunningham’s Herb Encyclopedia
• Organic Facts: http://www.organicfacts.net/organic-oils/natural-essential-oils/health-benefits-of-eucalyptus-essential-oil.html

Herb Spotlight: Sage

Guest post by Tori

Sage leaves

Medicinal Uses:
I was surprised at how many medicinal uses sage has.  It is good for pain relief, insulin activity (in type 2 diabetics not dependant on insulin), sweating, relaxing and memory boosts.  As always, check with your doctor if you have any serious conditions and don’t rely on treating yourself.

For all of these you make sage tea (take some sage, usually around 2 tbs or 2 tea bags, boil some water and steep for 10 minutes).  For the night sweats,  let the tea cool before you drink it or it might cause sweats.  Also, take it for a few nights in a row then slowly start decreasing the regularity so you know when you can stop drinking.  In a tea for memory boosts, add 4 cloves to the sage before you make the tea.

For a sore throat and tonsilitis you want to gargle the sage tea.  You can also add some garlic to the tonsilitis tea for an anit-bacterial assist.

Beauty Uses:
Sage tea can also be used to darken hair, including grey hairs.  Prepare sage tea, 4 tbs of sage, and let steep for 2 hours before you strain it.  Massage the tea into your hair every day until it is as dark as you want.  For a bit of extra oomph you can add 2 cups of rum and 2 tbs of glycerin (available at a pharmacy).  If you are opposed to alcohol, you can add 2 tbs of black tea to the sage you steep.

Magickal Uses:
Sage is the classic cleansing herb.  Many, if not most, think about someone with a smudge stick of sage walking an area to cleanse it when we think of cleansing.  This means it can be used in all sorts of spells you want to have a cleansing aspect.  It’s a good herb if you want to get rid of bad habits, a bad job, or anything that makes you feel negatively.

As an extention of its use against negative energy it is good for protection.  If any negative energy is sent your way and you have a pouch of sage, at least some of it will be absorbed.  I love this aspect of sage, but I like to combine it with an herb that’s good for awareness.  I like knowing when something is coming for me, since herbs can only do so much.

Sage is also good to promote health and attract money, but again I see this as an extension of its impact on negative energy.  It prevents money from being kept from you or taken from you and it keeps you healthy by freeing you of negative influences.

Recipe:
Cleansing Incense

• 2 parts Sage
• 1 part Frankincense
• 1 part Myrrh

Sources: Healing Rememdies, http://www.joellessacredgrove.com/Herbs/s-herbs.html

Herb Spotlight: Rose

Guest post by Tori

Medical Uses:
Rose hips are commonly used as a supplement.  They contain vitamin A, B1, B2, C, E, K, calcium, citric acid, iron, niacin, phosphorous and tannin.  The calcium is not a lot though, so you cannot replace a good glass of milk with it, but at least you do not have to worry about getting too much.  Rose hips are also taken to help with infections, cold and flu, uterine cramps, heavy menstrual flow and some breast disorders.  It is a dieuretic, helps with nervousness, and can help with some stomach troubles.  The most common way to take rose hips is either as a capsule or a tea.  There are some possible side effects from rose hips, but very few people suffer from them.  These can include headache, heartburn, insomnia and nausea.  Not so bad, in my opinion, if you can get some cramp relief while enjoying a nice tea!

Magickal Uses:
Like many others rose seems to be a very diverse herb.  However, when you consider that it is a water element, its different uses are not surprising. According to Cunningham’s encyclopedia, rose is good for love (no surprise), fast luck, psychic powers, divination, healing and protection.  The way I like to use herbs that have a lot of different uses like rose is to find the most powerful (usually the most common) use and use that as the base for the others.  In the case of rose, that use would be love.  So I would use rose to amp up any protection, healing spells, or divination that I do for loved ones, especially divination to find love.  Rosewater is a common addition to spells. If you are into color magic roses are a good place to use it.  Since roses come in a variety of shades you can buy the one that works with your spell and use those.  Use a dark red rose for a lust spell instead of a yellow one, which you may use for more a light hearted romantic fling.

Recipe:
Love Sachet
This is to find love or bring it to you.  It is NOT to make someone fall in love with you.  Also, the aspects of it are what I wanted to find.  So if you want something that is more passion or more wild or whatever you should tweak the recipe to emphasize the herbs with the aspects you want.

• 1 part Lavendar – peace, dream like situation
• 3 parts Rose – romance, joy, happiness, healthy relationship
• 1 part Galangal Root – aphrodisiac (you know why)
• 1 part Red Sandalwood – sexual and spiritual

Use pink felt and add a garnet for an extra boost.

Herb Preparations and Tools

Guest post by Tori

Before I write too many more herb posts, I wanted to give some context and put a bit of a disclaimer on it. There are things that I think are important to know about working with herbs and it just is not convenient to put them into each post. It makes the posts clumsy and more difficult to read than they need to be.

The first thing I have to stress, and people who have seen me give this speech in person will laugh, is do not mix your kitchen herbs and your magick herbs. You can do magickal cooking, but do not use your magick herbs. Even if they are edible, such as cinnamon or mint, they could get mixed with poisonous stuff by accident. So do not mix these two groups or you could easily poison yourself. Do not even mix the tools that come in direct contact with the herbs. This could include spoons, scissors, mortar and pestle, etc. I cannot stress these things enough! Most of the stuff you work with is probably not poisonous and if it is you probably don’t use enough to kill yourself. It may be enough, however, to cause you some significant measure of discomfort. So don’t risk it.

This goes for the things you store, boil, bake or anything your herbs in. There are ceramic containers that will add poisonous and harmful things into your creations. My advice is to get stuff that is safe for food. If it is safe for you to ingest their contents then it is safe for you to do just about anything else with them. Make sure you clean these things thoroughly, too. This isn’t to prevent poisoning, this is just to keep unwanted herbs out of things you make.

Also, make sure you know what you are allergic to and what commonly gives people rashes or other uncomfortable reactions. I would imagine that a painful rash is going to effect whatever ritual or spell you are trying to work.

I think that does it for my obligatory safety warnings. So I will move on to more fun stuff. This is mostly a series of tips about working with herbs. I am not going to go into how I make my recipes here, but if people are interested let me know in the comments and I will write a post on that.

There are a few small points to start off with. These are things I have found in my studies to be commonly believed, but I have not really done experimentation with. I kind of just trust it, because I either do not see a reason for it not to be true or it kind of makes sense. The first is that fresh herbs are more effective than dried. This means that dried one are the ones you need to grind in spells, while with fresh ones there is no need. Second, you should use ceramic instead of metal. This one I follow because I know the water out of my metal canteen sometimes tastes metallic, while water I drink out of ceramics does not have a strange flavor.

The darker glass containers (brown, green, etc.) are better than the clear ones, unless you specifically want the sun/moon to charge the concoction. This goes along with the idea of beers getting skunky. Sunlight can affect certain ingredients and make them go bad faster. I have not learned yet exactly which ones this affects, but I feel no need to risk it. I also just prefer how the brown draught bottles I use look.

For those of you just starting, here is the most important advice I can give you (besides don’t poison yourself). Don’t think you need all the fancy paraphernalia. You don’t need a fancy mortar and pestle. You can get that job done with either a cheap one from a thrift store or even just a bowl and a spoon. If you have to choose between good herbs and fancy tools always pick the good herbs. The tools are not as important as the herbs. The fact is that when you have finished a pouch, the smell is not going to be different if you used a mortar and pestle or if you use a bowl or a spoon. If you feel the bowl and the spoon didn’t crunch stuff up enough you can always squeeze the bag a bit, which is what you’ll end up doing anyway. At least if you work with them in a way similar to me.

A quick note about incense. I do not really work with this yet. My family, who I currently live with, are asthmatic and have violent reactions to it. My only advice, therefore, is make sure you read about how things smell when they are burned. It is not always the same smell as when they are just there. Some start out smelling sweet and then smell absolutely vile and some just smell vile. Some are POISONOUS when burned. So be very careful with this. You can do yourself serious harm or make your home very unpleasant.

And one more thing as a parting remark. DO NOT POISON YOURSELF. If you do, it isn’t my fault.