"Witchcraft" plants fall into several categories. The following are not mutually exclusive. Many witchcraft plants fall into several categories at once.
*Witchcraft plants offer power over life and death. Some exert powerful influences over the human reproductive system. These include fertility enhancers, menstrual regulators, herbal contraceptives, and abortifacients. Aphrodisiacs, those plants that promote sexual interest and ability, may be included in this category too.
*Just as some plants are identified with birth and life, others have associations with death, whether for spiritual reason or because the particular plant is deadly poisonous, or both.
*Some plants possess the power to intoxicate; they stimulate the euphoria sometimes crucial to shamanism, witchcraft, and some spiritual rituals. They stimulate, joy, exultation, and feelings of well-being, at least temporarily.
*The modern term "entheogen" describes substances that are gateways to visionary experiences. Used with knowledge, skill, and experience, these substances may unlock portals so that the shaman and witch can journey and fly.
Witchcraft plants include wild, uncultivated plants that resist domestication, prickly, stinging plants that assert powerful boundaries, and poisonous and psychoactive plants. Many witchcraft plants are associated with the moon and with female reproduction and sexuality.
WARNING
With the exception of linguists, most people's current knowledge of Anglo-Saxon extends no further than a few select 4 letter words. However, it's vital to be familiar with at least one other 4 letter word, a least before you play with any plants: BANE. Pay attention when you see or hear that word: it is a warning of danger. Bane derives from the Old German bano meaning death. Bane implies that a plant is poisonous enough to cause death.
Folk names tend to describe something about a plants' use; plants with "bane" in their name frequently recall the identity of those plants' primary victim, hence henbane or wolfsbane. However, beware: any plant with "bane" anywhere in its name is poisonous to some degree.
Poisonous plants may be even more lethal today for 2 reasons. Firstly, lack of knowledge. We don't really know how or even if our ancestors administered them. Practitioners were killed and chains of transmission destroyed. Their methods may have been very different from our own. Although they lacked our technical capacity, their knowledge of fine botanical nuances was almost certainly greater. Secondly, concentration and isolation. Modern understanding of plants and nature is very different from what it once was. Today we know that every botanical contains various phyto-hormones and chemical constituents including alkaloids that provide its various physical effects. In other words, once upon a time we knew that belladonna was toxic; not we know why it's toxic, which chemical constituents are responsible for its poisonous effect. These chemical constituents can now be isolated and concentrated. The effect of the chemical constituents can now be isolated and concentrated. The effect of the chemical constituent on its own is almost certainly more potent and concentrated than when left as part of a complex system of interlocking components. There are herbalists who will only work with whole plants believing that any form of concentration of plant powers, including essential oils, is dangerous.
Modern scientific inclination is to isolate individual chemical constituents, refine and concentrate them, so that medicine can be standardized. Standardized synthetics may also be created that are even more potent than the whole plant. The disadvantage is that by isolating a single chemical constituent, we may remove buffering that provided a measure of safety. These standardized, concentrated forms do not occur in nature and may, in fact, not be safer. The classic example is ephedrine, the now banned dietary supplement derived from ephedra, a plant used medicinally since at least Neolithic times.
SAFETY TIPS
*Never use any botanicals without expert professional supervision. This extends to more than just standard internal administration. Even handling certain plants can be dangerous.
*Do not wild-craft, for two reasons:
-This is the botanical equivalent of poaching animals; many botanicals are severely endangered in the wild.
-Plants can be deceptive. It's very easy to assume that one is picking one plant when on is, in fact, picking another. This particularly true with mushrooms, who bear reputations as tricksters, sometimes deadly ones.
Botanicals have local and folk names; these are the names they've been called in a specific language or region. Many of these folk names are very revealing; they tell you something about the plant's nature and uses. However, many folk names are shared, Half a dozen plants are known as motherwort; the only thing they may have in common is that they're beneficial in some aspect of maternity, whether conception, birth, or nursing. If you ask for motherwort, you may receive any one of these half dozen plants, at least one of which is also a powerful cardia stimulant. However, each and every plant has only one Latin designation. That Latin designation is used internationally to describe only one single plant. Latin designations are the lingua franca, the common language of the worldwide botanical community. For safety's sake, because otherwise you may have no idea what plant you're working with and many plants have profound and sometimes dangerous physical effects, always use the plants' Latin classification.
IMPORTANT: The plants listed in any part of this blog are included for historical purposed only! Experimenting with plants, particularly with those known to be dangerous or life threatening, is not encouraged. Those who would like to learn more or get involved with botanicals, I recommend seeing advice from a local botanist.
*Credit to Judika Illes
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