Heather: Magical Properties & Uses

Heather draws gentle fortune, calls protective rain, and opens the witch to the presence of the fae. White heather specifically is carried for luck that is not won but given: the unexpected benevolence of the land rather than the directed force of a working. In workings oriented toward the Scottish and Highland traditions heather is the primary fae-contact herb, placed on altars where the Otherworld is being approached with respect and an open hand. It is also used in workings of beauty, gentle love, and the kind of happiness that cannot be forced but may be invited. The purple flowering heather is appropriate for healing and purification workings.

Heather (Calluna vulgaris) has a modest but genuine history of medicinal use. The flowering tops have been used in traditional Scottish and Scandinavian medicine as a diuretic, mild sedative, and antiseptic for urinary tract conditions. Heather honey (produced by bees foraging on heather moorland) is unusually thick and strongly flavoured, and has been used medicinally in Scotland as an antiseptic and wound dressing. Heather ale (leann fraoich) is documented from at least the Bronze Age and is commercially produced again today in Scotland.

Isis, Osiris

The flower of the Scottish moors, and where her white form grows wild, the highest luck a witch may carry. White heather growing wild is considered extraordinarily auspicious in Scottish tradition; it was believed to mark the graves of fairies or places where no blood had ever been shed. Queen Victoria popularised the tradition of carrying white heather for luck after adopting the Highland customs. In the Hebridean islands heather was burned to call rain and to bless the bees. Heather ale (brewed from the flowering tops) is one of the oldest known alcoholic drinks in Scotland, with recipes traceable to Bronze Age peoples.