Lilac: Magical Properties & Uses

Lilac is the herb of past lives, of memory, and of the kind of clairvoyance that reaches backward through time rather than forward. Its primary magical uses are in past-life work and regression, in spirit communication (particularly with those who died having loved the practitioner), and in workings to understand recurring patterns by accessing their origins. The scent alone is the working in most cases: burned as incense or placed as fresh flowers in the working space, lilac opens the past with gentleness rather than force. In exorcism workings it encourages spirits to move on by creating an atmosphere of peace and release.

Lilac (Syringa vulgaris) has modest medicinal properties. The bark was used as a febrifuge in European folk medicine and by American Eclectic physicians of the 19th century as a bitter tonic and fever herb. The flowers contain traces of volatile oils with some antimicrobial properties. It is not extensively used in contemporary herbal medicine. The essential oil, rare and frequently adulterated in commercial products, is used in aromatherapy for stress and the evocation of emotional memory. The plant is generally considered safe.

None specific

A flower whose scent alone is said to open the door to past lives. In Persian tradition lilac is the flower of the beloved and of spring's irresistible arrival. In Victorian England the white lilac was carried at funerals; the purple was associated with first love remembered and with the bittersweetness of things that were beautiful and are gone. The lilac is not native to Britain or Northern Europe: it came from the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century and was immediately absorbed into the European magical tradition. Bring lilac into a haunted room and the spirit will move on; bring it into a room full of grief and something eases. It was not known to Culpeper, reaching England after his time.