Cloves: Magical Properties & Uses

Cloves are primarily herbs of protection and mental clarity: Jupiter and fire give them a heat that both drives away what is unwanted and amplifies what is intended. In banishing workings cloves drive out negative presences and break unwanted attachments. In prosperity workings they attract wealth with the confidence of Jupiter at his most generous. Studded into an orange or apple and dried, they create one of the most effective and long-lasting protective charms in the folk tradition. The scent alone stimulates mental clarity and memory: it is one of the herbs where magical and physiological action are most transparently working through the same mechanism.

Cloves (Syzygium aromaticum) contain eugenol, a compound with genuine analgesic and antimicrobial properties. Oil of cloves is used in dentistry as a topical anaesthetic for toothache and as an antiseptic in dental procedures, a clinically validated application of a folk use with centuries of history. Cloves are used as digestive bitters and carminatives in traditional medicine worldwide. Culpeper recommended them for strengthening the stomach and freshening the breath. The oil is antimicrobial and antifungal. They should not be applied to skin undiluted as they can cause irritation.

Brigid

Once worth their weight in gold along the spice routes of the world, cloves were grown exclusively in the Banda Islands of Indonesia until the Dutch East India Company established monopoly control in the 17th century and enforced it with extraordinary violence. Wars were fought over the right to trade them; the smell of cloves in a European kitchen in the 15th century signified considerable wealth. In folk magic across Europe, cloves were used in love and fidelity workings, in studding oranges to produce pomanders that protected against disease and evil, and strung as protective necklaces. The Elizabethan pomander was simultaneously a medical precaution and a magical charm.