Book of Witchery (30 page)

A prickling at the base of your neck is the first indication that you are no longer alone. As you turn slowly to look behind you, a large black dog comes barreling out of the darkness and is running straight at you. There is no time to be afraid. Your eyes widen, and the next thing you know, the dog has knocked you flat on your back and is affectionately greeting you. Your initial shriek of alarm gives way to helpless laughter as you vainly attempt to get the dog off your chest so you can sit up. After a few moments of laughing struggle, you manage to collar the dog and sit upright again.

“Where did you come from?” you ask your new canine friend. As an answer, the large dog barks once and whips his tail back and forth. The dog barks again at you in a friendly way and sniffs you over. You sling an arm around your new friend and wonder who the animal belongs to. As you give the dog's ears a good scratch, he suddenly goes on alert and sits rigidly still, seeming to be at attention. You look up to see what has captured the interest of the dog and notice that a woman is silently approaching you. Her sandaled feet are noiseless on the gravel path, and she is draped from head to ankle in a richly textured, black hooded cape.

As she approaches, an owl swoops down from the tree line and lands gracefully on the top of the signpost as a sentinel. It blinks its wide eyes at you and ruffles its feathers. Your heart is hammering in your chest as you quickly rise to your feet to greet the lady. You bow your head and murmur a greeting. As she walks into the flickering light cast by the torch, you look upon her face to discover that she is a stately middle- aged woman wearing a glistening silver crown. The next moment, she appears as a young woman, dark and beautiful, then an elderly woman with a mass of wrinkles and a shock of white, wild hair. Back and forth, her image shifts and flows from one into another. The one thing that is constant is her eyes; they are ageless: a deep jet black, sparkling, and with a kindness and wisdom that radiates outwards. No matter which face she shows you, her eyes and the expression in them remain the same. Her hands raise to her hood, and she pushes it back so you can fully look upon her. Pay attention to how Hecate appears to you.

“Greetings,” she says softly, in a voice that rustles like dry leaves. “I thank you for caring for my sacred place.” She nods toward the items that you have just straightened out. You smile, and she looks at you carefully. “You have no fear of me.” This is a statement, and it pleases her. She continues by saying, “Many who are unprepared for my mysteries are afraid. They believe that I am the one who brings death. But they are mistaken, for I do not. I am the midwife who assists you into this world and the wise one who escorts you into the next.”

Hecate holds out her hand, and the three old metal keys that you were admiring appear in her palm. She silently hands them to you as her hair whips about in the cold wind. Honored, you silently close your fist around them.

“I leave you with three gifts, my child,” she tells you quietly. “Knowledge, intuition, and magick. Hold these close to your heart, and if you ever have need of me, know that I will be there.”

You clasp the keys to your chest, and a curious warmth emanates from the keys. Slowly they dissolve, and now the warmth is coming from inside your own body. You bow your head and whisper your thanks. Hecate holds up a hand, and the owl silently leaps from the signpost and flies over to circle over the goddess's head. With a single call, the owl swoops off and into the darkness. Hecate then pulls up her hood and smiles at you one last time. As she turns to leave, the dog leaps to her side and follows her down the path. A mist rising from the ground seems to swallow them up as they disappear from your view.

Look around you now, and focus on your image of the sacred crossroads. Keep this visualization in place; should you ever wish to return here, it will be waiting for you. Feel the warmth of Hecate's gifts of knowledge, intuition, and magick burning bright within yourself. Then take a deep breath, ground and center, and begin your journey home. Come to awareness, and stretch out. Now go and eat a light snack, and afterwards, take a brisk walk. Be sure that you are reconnected to the earth plane and are well grounded.

Magickal Plants & Flowers

It should be noted that many of the plants that are classically associated with Saturn, and interestingly enough, the goddess Hecate, are indeed toxic—such as aconite (also known as wolfsbane or monkshood), deadly nightshade (
Atropa belladonna
), hellebore, hemlock, and yew. For more specific magickal information and folklore on these gothic and poisonous plants, please refer to my book
Garden Witch's Herbal
.

Some of the more common herbs associated with the planetary influence of Saturn are the pansy, morning glory, and mullein. The trees associated with Saturday and the planet Saturn are the mimosa and the cypress tree. The majority of the featured herbs, flowers, and trees for this chapter are easy to procure and are safe to work your spell-craft with.

Pansy

The pansy, or viola (
Viola tricolor
), is a common garden flower with a lot of magickal
oomph
behind it. Available in myriad colors, it is a happy, unassuming, protective flower that many magickal practitioners grow in their gardens but never put to work. Besides their qualities of healing a broken heart, they also speak of happy thoughts. The pansy has many folk names, including heartsease, Johnny jump-up, and love-in-idleness.

If you choose to work Saturday spells and protective charms with the pansy, then look for the dark purple and black ones. The deeper the color of the pansy, the more protective energy it will produce. (All colors of the pansy will work, but tap into a bit of color magick while you are at it and crank up the volume on your witchery!) There are black pansies that are readily available for you to work into your flower fascinations as well—look for the variety called ‘Black Magic' or the ‘Trick or Treat' varieties in the fall months.

I confess that I plant those witchy pansies every year; it's a readily available black flower that I love adding to my garden. This year, try it for yourself. Plant some of those deep, jewel-toned pansies in a container or add them to your semi-shady borders for a little mystery and drama in the magickal garden.

The classic magickal associations of the pansy are Saturn and the element of water. The pansy's definitions in florigraphy are many; for our cheerful friend the pansy, it announces “happy, kind, and loving thoughts.”

You may also apply classic color magick correspondences to the many varieties and bewitching colors of the pansy: red for protecting your love and for passion; pink for children's magick and for friendship; white and purple mixtures for spirituality; baby blue for peace and tranquility; orange to increase energy and vitality; yellow for knowledge and sunshine. Lastly, don't forget to work with the deep purple and black pansies for banishing, bindings, stripping away a psychic vampire's power, and of course to remove negative magick or to break a spell.

Garden Witch Tip

Pansies will perform
their best in the spring and fall months. They dislike hot weather. You can get pansies to winter over if they are planted in the ground—just mulch them well with fallen leaves in the late autumn, when temperatures start to dip toward the freezing point. Keep them covered up all winter and then, at the spring equinox, uncover them. They will bloom for you again even more heavily.

Morning Glory

The morning glory (
Ipomoea
spp.) is a favorite cottage-style plant of mine. These annual climbing vines can grow over fifteen feet in height in just one season. The deep-blue blooms open in September, and the vines, foliage, and flowers may be worked into protection spells and bindings. There are several varieties of morning glories available to garden Witches today. One of my favorites is a variety called ‘Grandpa Otts'. This morning glory is dark purple with star-shaped markings on the flowers. It is very dramatic and witchy.

If you choose to work with morning glory vines for a binding, snip off a small section of the vine and wrap it around your item of sympathy. If this is a troublesome person, then you could wrap the vine around a photo or a sample of their handwriting. Or take an old, clean glass jar and put the item of sympathy inside, then stuff the jar full of morning glory leaves and vines. Bury or dispose of the jar off of your property.

In
Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs,
he suggests that “the roots of the morning glory plant may be used as a substitute for High John the Conqueror root.” Finally, the magickal associations for this blooming vine are the planet Saturn and the element of water. According to florigraphy, the morning glory conveys the message of being “sustained by your affections.”

Mullein

Mullein (
Verbascum
) is a wildflower that grows in dry, rocky, disturbed ground. Folk names for mullein include graveyard dirt and hag's tapers. The latter name started because in olden times, the flower stalks were soaked in tallow and then set aflame to be used as long-lasting torches. The mullein is a biennial that produces large stalks of yellow flowers up to eight feet in height. The flower stalks bloom from the bottom up, and the large leaves are soft and fuzzy (sort of a gigantic version of lamb's ears). The leaves are so huge that the early American settlers used the leaves for diapers for their little ones!

I grew mullein in my sunny frontyard gardens once. As it is a biennial, the first year it sat there looking charming with those massive silver leaves. The second year, it grew into a monstrous plant. I'm not exaggerating, either—that plant literally stopped traffic. The blooming flower stalks were over seven feet tall. It got to be where folks would roll down their car windows and shout out, with a laugh, “What the hell is that plant?” My husband threatened to put a sign in the yard so people would stop asking. It went to seed shortly after the flowers faded, and I saved a few seeds and planted them in the back gardens.

In magickal herbalism, mullein leaves are thought to keep away all negative intentions and evil. Carrying a leaf was supposed to protect its bearer from attack and from harm. Finally, dried, crushed mullein leaves may be used as a substitute for real graveyard dirt, should you ever find yourself in need of some. In the language of flowers, the mullein stands for a “good-natured individual.” The magickal correspondences include the planet Saturn and the element of fire. Mullein is classified as possessing feminine energies.

Mimosa

Also called silver wattle, the mimosa (
Acacia dealbata
) is a tree that can reach up to thirty feet in height and is indigenous to tropical climates. The acacia is native to Africa, Australia, parts of Asia, and the Mediterranean. It does grow beautifully in the United States in warm climates such as California. Its magickal uses are purification and protection, and its fluffy, fragrant flowers are typically worked into love spells. Having a mimosa tree growing on your property is thought to protect the entire household from hexes and curses.

The flowers of the mimosa are a golden yellow and are described as bearing the fragrance of violets. The evergreen foliage of the mimosa is silvery green, divided, and feathery. The best way I can think to describe the leaves is that they look like super-fine fern fronds. The planetary association is Saturn, and the elemental correspondence is water. In the language of flowers, the mimosa blossom symbolizes “a sensitive soul.”

Cypress

The cypress tree (
Cupressus sempervirens
) is also known as Italian cypress. This tree is a symbol for immortality and eternity, and it has the startling folk name of “the tree of death.” This may be because of its link to Hecate and darker magick, or it may simply be due to the fact that it is a tree often found in European graveyards and was once a popular wood with the Egyptians for building coffins. Some varieties of this grand evergreen may grow over 100 feet in height. The cypress has grayish-brown bark and small green foliage (needles). There is also a native cypress to the southwestern United States called the Arizona cypress. This tree has more of a silvery-blue color to its foliage. It is utilized to help stop erosion and is treasured for its ability to adapt to harsh climates.

Cypress oil is a popular ingredient in colognes and soaps, as its scent is bracing and clean. Carrying a piece of cypress wood is thought to bring you a long life, and when the tree is planted near the home, it bestows blessings and protection on the house's inhabitants. Cypress may be used to construct a wand for healing purposes or be used when working with the goddess Hecate. In the language of flowers, the cypress carries the definition of “mourning.” It is classified as a feminine plant. Magickal associations are the planet Saturn and the element of earth.

Why not combine some of the plant folklore and magickal herbal information from this chapter into a protective spell with ingredients that you can probably find in your own gardens?