Reference
The Apothecary.
Magical Herb Correspondences for Witchcraft Practice
A reference library of herbs and plants for magical practice.
104 entries (herbs, roots, flowers, resins, and bark) each with correspondences, magical uses, folklore, and safety notes.
104 entries
Agrimony
A modest yellow-spired plant whose unassuming face hides one of the oldest reversal charms in Western witchcraft. Where the work of tongue o…
Aloe Vera
The Plant of Immortality: grown in the homes of Egyptian pharaohs and on the windowsills of modern witches alike. Aloe vera is a quiet, gene…
Angelica
Tall and stately as the angel for whom it is named, angelica stands at the threshold between the mortal and the divine. Where evil presses c…
Anise
A small, sweet seed in which the veil between the worlds grows thin. Brewed into tea, scattered in a dream pillow, or burned at the threshol…
Ash (Tree)
The Norse called it Yggdrasil (the World Tree on which Odin hung for nine nights to win the wisdom of the runes) and to this day the wood ho…
Basil
Called the Witches' Herb in old Italian kitchens, basil holds within its bright leaves a fierce protectiveness that masquerades as warmth. I…
Bay Laurel
The leaf the Pythia chewed before she spoke at Delphi still holds the breath of prophecy. Write a wish upon a bay leaf and let the smoke of …
Betony (Wood)
An unassuming purple-flowered cousin of the mints, betony was once the most feared and respected protective herb in medieval Europe. Planted…
Birch
The Lady of the Woods: first letter of the Ogham, slender and silver-barked as moonlight itself. Birch is the magic of beginnings and of new…
Bistort
A pink-spiked plant of damp meadows whose root coils back on itself like a small sleeping serpent. Bistort is the dragon-root: a herb of fer…
Black Cohosh
A tall plant of North American woodlands, its long white flower-spires swaying above the shade. Black cohosh is the courage root, used to st…
Blackthorn
Twisted, thorned, and black-barked, the wishing thorn is the witch's tree of fate and reckoning. Where blessing has failed and gentler means…
Burdock
A tall, rough plant crowned with the hooked burrs that catch on every passing coat. Burdock is the cleansing root: it wards off negativity a…
Calendula
Bright as the noonday sun in petal-form, calendula is the flower of sovereignty, of solar joy, of protection at the threshold. Strewn beneat…
Catnip
Sacred to Bast and beloved of every cat that creeps softly through a witch's house. Catnip carries a soft, beguiling charm: drawing love, ea…
Cedar
Ancient, evergreen, and fragrant of both temple and forest. Cedar smoke is the breath of the old gods of Lebanon and the cleansing wind of I…
Chamomile
Sun-yellow and apple-scented, chamomile is the gentlest of the gold-bringers. A wash of its tea over the hands before a game of chance, a sp…
Cinnamon
A bark once more valuable than gold: traded in secrecy across centuries, offered to the gods of every great civilisation. Cinnamon is pure m…
Cinquefoil
Five-fingered as a hand cast in plant form, cinquefoil is the herb of the five-fold blessing: love, money, health, power, and wisdom. Witche…
Clover (Red)
Three leaves for the Holy Trinity, three for the Triple Goddess, four for the rarest of luck. Red clover is the flower of fidelity and frien…
Cloves
Once worth their weight in gold along the spice routes of the world, cloves bring with them the heat and shimmer of distant lands. Strung as…
Comfrey
Called knitbone for its long use in the old surgeons' arts, comfrey carries a deep-earth steadiness that has long protected travellers on th…
Coriander
Found in the tombs of pharaohs and named in the books of the Bible, coriander is among the oldest of the love-and-health herbs. Its little r…
Cramp Bark
The bark of the guelder rose, that shrub of snowball flowers and glassy red berries once planted at the threshold to guard the home. Cramp b…
Dandelion
A wild flower scorned as a weed and yet sacred to Hecate herself. Brew its bitter root for psychic insight; blow upon its silver clock and t…
Devil's Shoestring
A bundle of wiry, stringy roots said to trip up the Devil and named for the deed. Devil's shoestring is a Hoodoo protective and luck root: c…
Dill
Hung above the doorways of Puritan houses to keep witches out, and tucked into the cradles of babies to keep mischief away. Dill's bright gr…
Dragon's Blood
A scarlet resin that bleeds from a palm tree of the East, said by the old herbalists to be the very gore of dragons slain in battle. A pinch…
Echinacea
The purple coneflower of the North American prairies, most important of all the healing plants to the peoples who first held its knowledge. …
Elder
The Elder Mother dwells within the white-flowered tree, and no wise witch will cut a branch without first asking her permission. Elder is th…
Eyebright
A modest little flower with a tiny golden eye at its centre, known by every old herbalist as the gift of clear seeing. Brewed into a cooled …
Fennel
The hollow stalk in which Prometheus hid the fire stolen from the gods, and through which a witch may still hide her own small flame. Hung o…
Feverfew
Daisy-faced and bitter, feverfew is the small green guardian of the traveller. Carry it on the road and accidents are turned aside; plant it…
Frankincense
The most sacred of all incense resins: gift of the Magi, breath of every temple from Egypt to Jerusalem to the cathedrals of the West. To bu…
Galangal
A warm, peppery root close kin to ginger, known in the kitchen across Asia and in American folk magic as Low John. Galangal is the courtroom…
Garlic
The most universal protective herb on earth: known in every culture, named in every grimoire, hung in every kitchen from the Mediterranean t…
Ginger
A root of fire, swift action, and untamed will: once worth more than gold and traded under such secrecy that its origin was said to lie at t…
Hawthorn
The Fairy Tree, the May Tree, the most magically charged tree in the British Isles. A lone hawthorn standing in a field is sacred ground; cu…
Heather
The flower of the Scottish moors, and where her white form grows wild, the highest luck a witch may carry. Heather draws gentle rains, calls…
Henbane
A herb of legends: Devil's Eye, classic ingredient of the witches' flying ointment, possible smoke of the Delphic Oracle herself. Henbane is…
Hibiscus
Crimson, voluptuous, and devoted to the goddesses of love and pleasure. Hibiscus is the flower of unapologetic passion: brew its tea, weave …
High John the Conqueror
A large, hard, dark root carried whole as the great charm of African American Hoodoo. High John the Conqueror takes his name from a trickste…
Holly
The Holly King rules the dark half of the year, his crown of red berries and gleaming leaves the very sign of winter's living power. A sprig…
Honeysuckle
Twining, sweet-scented, and impossible to untangle once it has wound itself around a support: a true emblem of devoted love. Bring its flowe…
Hops
The bitter green cones that flavoured the ale of every English tavern also carry one of the deepest sleep-giving spirits in the herbal apoth…
Horehound
A bitter grey-green mint with crinkled leaves, sacred once to the Egyptians as a herb of Horus. Horehound is the clarifying herb: it clears …
Hyssop
The cleansing herb of King David and the old churches, hyssop's smoke purifies the air with the unbothered authority of long tradition. Ther…
Ivy (Ground)
A small, creeping, purple-flowered plant that brewed the ale of the Anglo-Saxons before hops took its place. Ground ivy is a quiet healer an…
Jasmine
Queen of the Night, opening her white star-flowers only when the sun has set. Jasmine is the flower of moonlit love, of prophetic dreams, of…
Juniper
The blue-berried evergreen of ancient purification: burned in the temples of Egypt, the homes of the Romans, the high pastures of Tibet. Jun…
Lavender
Perhaps no herb in the Western tradition is more beloved or more endlessly useful. Lavender is peace, sleep, love, and clean air all at once…
Lemon Balm
Sacred to the bees and called Melissa for them, lemon balm is the sweet green herb of grief eased and joy returned. Where the heart has been…
Lemon Verbena
Bright, citrus-sharp, and delicate: lemon verbena is the love herb of clear minds and clear dreams. A few leaves beneath the pillow turn the…
Licorice Root
Found in the tomb of Tutankhamun and carried in the saddlebags of Alexander's soldiers, licorice is the root of long, slow, intentional powe…
Lilac
A flower whose scent alone is said to open the door to past lives. Bring lilac into a haunted room and the spirit will move on; bring it int…
Lotus
The flower that rises pure from the muddy water beneath it: symbol of enlightenment in every great spiritual tradition of the East. To work …
Lovage
Its very name tells the working: lovage, love-ache, the herb of attractive power. Medieval ladies bathed in lovage water before going to cou…
Mandrake
The screaming root, the man-shaped root, the most legendary of all the European witch-plants. Mandrake is power itself: dangerous, ancient, …
Marjoram
A small green herb of happiness: the very emblem of joy in the Greek and Roman traditions, where lovers crowned themselves with marjoram wre…
Meadowsweet
One of the three most sacred herbs of the Druids and a flower from which the goddess Blodeuwedd herself was made. Meadowsweet is the herb of…
Mint (Peppermint)
The transformed nymph Minthe, crushed beneath the feet of a jealous Persephone and rising green forever after as the cool breath of the worl…
Mistletoe
The plant the Druids cut with a golden sickle from the sacred oak, the green-and-pearl bough of Norse myth that slew bright Baldur. Mistleto…
Mugwort
Artemis's own herb: silver-backed leaf of dreams, divination, and the moon. Burn mugwort before scrying and the mirror grows clearer; tuck i…
Mullein
The Hag's Taper, whose tall pale stalks were dipped in fat and burned by witches as torches in the dark. Mullein is the herb of the courage …
Myrrh
The dark sister of frankincense: gift of the Magi, breath of the embalming chambers of Egypt. Myrrh smoke deepens any working into the chtho…
Nettle
The plant that stings the careless hand and protects the prepared one. Nettle is the herb of fierce healing, of curses unwound and boundarie…
Nutmeg
A little brown nut once worth more than gold, kept under monopoly in the Banda Islands and fought over across centuries. Carry a whole nutme…
Oak
The King of Trees, the most sacred of all the European trees, the herb whose name may even have given the Druids theirs. To knock on oak is …
Oregano
The herb Aphrodite herself is said to have created as a gift of joy to the world. Oregano's warm, resinous scent carries the brightness of M…
Orris Root
The dried rhizome of the iris, named for the rainbow goddess who carried messages between heaven and earth. Powdered into a fine dust, orris…
Parsley
The herb of both the dinner table and the Underworld: in ancient Greece, to need only parsley was to stand at death's very door. Parsley car…
Passionflower
A vine whose extraordinary flowers were read by Spanish missionaries as the very symbols of Christ's Passion. Beyond all theology, however, …
Patchouli
Earthy, dark, and unmistakable: patchouli is the herb of deep-rooted abundance, of love that lives in the body rather than the mind. Its hea…
Pennyroyal
Lurk-in-the-Ditch, the small mint that smells of strength. A potent travel-protection herb, but one to be handled only with the fullest know…
Pine
Tall, evergreen, scented of the cold mountains where Cybele's lover Attis became a tree. Pine is the herb of clean air and steady protection…
Plantain (Ribwort)
The first of the Nine Sacred Herbs of Anglo-Saxon healing: a small ribbed leaf that grows wherever the foot has trodden. Plantain is healing…
Poppy
The red flower that grew over the trenches of the Great War, and the sleep-bringing bloom Demeter created to numb her grief. Poppy is the fl…
Primrose
A small pale flower of British hedgerows said to attract the Fae. Lay a posy of primroses at the doorstep on May Eve and the household will …
Raspberry Leaf
The herb of the mother: gentle, nourishing, and quietly strong. Raspberry leaf protects the woman in pregnancy, blesses the home with enduri…
Rose
The quintessential flower of love magic in every Western tradition: sacred to Aphrodite, to Venus, to Isis, to Mary. Red for passion, pink f…
Rosemary
Rosemary for remembrance, for fidelity, for the bright clarity of the working mind. She may be substituted for any herb in any spell at need…
Rowan
The little flame tree: Mountain Ash, Quicken Tree, the most powerful protective wood of British and Norse witchcraft. A rowan cross of two t…
Rue
The Herb of Grace and the most powerful hex-breaker in the Western tradition. Wear rue against the body when you suspect a curse and what wa…
Saffron
Threads of dried crimson stigmas worth their weight in gold, beloved of the goddesses of joy and dawn. A pinch of saffron raises the heart a…
Sage (Garden)
The witch's wisdom-herb: silver-leaved, long-lived, and named from the Latin for healing itself. Burn garden sage when white sage is unavail…
Sage (White)
The most sacred cleansing herb of the indigenous peoples of California, never to be sourced without care for the communities to whom it belo…
Sandalwood
The sacred wood of Indian and Tibetan meditation, carved into temples and ground into the paste worn upon the foreheads of devotees. Sandalw…
Skullcap
A modest blue-flowered nervine that quiets the racing mind. Skullcap is the herb of peace held lightly: of fidelity in love, of calm before …
Solomon's Seal
A graceful arching plant whose rhizome bears the scars of past seasons as small wax-seal marks. Used to seal magical workings and to bind oa…
Spearmint
The gentler cousin of peppermint: softer, sweeter, more suited to the working that asks for kindness rather than fire. Spearmint is the love…
St John's Wort
The little gold-flowered herb of midsummer, gathered when the sun is at its highest and the year at its brightest. Hung over the door on St …
Star Anise
A perfect dark-brown eight-pointed star, opened at the end of the bough like a small spell already cast. Star anise is luck in geometric for…
Sunflower
The sun made botanical: always turning its great golden face toward the light, a living act of devotion. Sunflower is the herb of solar joy,…
Thyme
The herb of courage in Highland tea and knightly bouquet alike: small, fragrant, and quietly indomitable. Thyme is the herb of the witch who…
Tormentil
A small yellow-flowered plant of moor and heath whose unassuming root bleeds red when broken. Tormentil is the steadying herb: protection an…
Turmeric
The golden root of Hindu wedding ceremonies and four-thousand-year-old medicines. Turmeric is purification, vitality, and the colour of weal…
Valerian
The deep-sleep herb par excellence: root of vivid dreams, of love long-considered, of the long quiet rest that the worried witch most needs.…
Vervain
One of the three most sacred herbs of the Druids: Tears of Isis, Holy Herb, the Enchanter's Plant. Add a pinch of vervain to any working and…
Violet
A small, shy purple flower beloved of poets and emperors alike: Napoleon kept a pressed violet in his locket until the day he died. Violet i…
Willow
The tree of the moon, the tree of grief, the tree at the edge of the river of the dead. Willow's silvered leaves and weeping branches lend t…
Witch Hazel
The dowser's wand and the broken-hearted witch's quiet companion. Witch hazel is the divination of waters and emotions both: its forked twig…
Wood Sorrel
A low woodland plant with folded shamrock leaves and a clean lemon tang. Wood sorrel is the small green herb of gladness: it asks for joy ra…
Wormwood
The bitter green herb of absinthe, of the Romantics, of the long European tradition of seeing what cannot be seen. Wormwood smoke summons th…
Yarrow
Achilles' herb of battlefield healing and the Chinese diviner's stalks for the casting of the I Ching. Yarrow is courage, love, and prophecy…
In Your Practice
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