Jasmine: Magical Properties & Uses

Jasmine is the flower of moonlit love and prophetic dreams. Its primary magical uses are in love workings (particularly those seeking long-term romantic partnership rather than immediate attraction), psychic dreams, and the opening of intuition during sleep. The scent has a genuine soporific quality and is used in dream pillows and sleep sachets to encourage meaningful dreaming. In devotional work jasmine is appropriate for moon goddesses and for deities of love and beauty. The dried flowers can be added to incense blends for any working involving the feminine divine or the opening of psychic channels.

Jasmine flowers are used extensively in perfumery, tea-flavouring (jasmine tea being one of the most widely consumed flavoured teas in the world), and aromatherapy. The essential oil is among the most expensive in perfumery: several hundred kilograms of blossoms are required for a single kilogram of absolute. In traditional medicine jasmine has been used for anxiety and depression in Indian Ayurvedic practice. Some studies have examined jasmine tea's antioxidant properties. It has been used in certain cultures to ease childbirth and support menstrual regularity.

Vishnu, Diana, Isis

Jasmine's history in magical and sacred use stretches from India, where it is sacred to Vishnu and used in temple offerings and wedding garlands throughout Hindu tradition, to Arabia, where al-yasmin gave the plant its name and where the scent became central to perfumery and love poetry. In Persian tradition it was a flower of paradise. It reached Europe via the Moorish trade routes and became immediately valued for its extraordinary scent. In Chinese tradition jasmine symbolises feminine sweetness and beauty. It appears in every major perfumery tradition and in the love magic of every culture that encountered it.