Herbal Alchemy: the Magick of Herbs

What is an herb?

​There is, in the witchcraft community specifically, a difference in meaning of the word herb between one witch and the next. Some will call herbs much the same way mainstream shops and gardeners do - those plants grown and used in the kitchen among the spices. Others will use the word herb when talking about only medicinal plants that are not trees or ornamental flowers. Some practitioners mean a certain part of the plant - usually the leaves or flowers - are the herb. Still others, like myself, will use the term herb when referring to all plants and plant parts used in medicine, food and magick. This last usage is more general and may be confusing to some but I find it the easiest use and most practical. Also, when I say herb I mean the whole plant unless otherwise 
noted and I also mean trees and fungus.

​More than kitchen witchery

​Herb magick is for more than hedge and kitchen witches to use in steamy kitchens and green gardens. Herbs are used by witches of all walks and faiths from Hermetic sorcerers to Hoodoo priestesses. Herbs are in the incense you burn at ritual or meditation, in the essential oils you perfume yourself with, in soaps used in ritual cleansing, in candles burned on altars, in the cakes and ale you use in offering. Once you see the vast ways herbs are used in your life and in your magick, it will be hard to ignore their power and even harder to not use them all the more. 

​Herbal Alchemy Series

It is my hope to create a series of posts regarding the use of herbs in magick whether for ritual, healing, or just to bring a little magick into your everyday life. I hope you enjoy these posts and find them beneficial. 
Herbal Blessings
December