Tag: Plant

Herb of the Day: ASAFETIDA

Herb of the Day ASAFETIDA: Ferula asafoetida

Also called Stinking Gum.

Parts Used: Resin of the root
…Magical Uses: Use for prophetic dreams, exorcism, and protection. Worn in a bag around the neck, asafetida dispels diseases and evils of all kinds. (It literally repels evil spirits!) Add a clove of garlic to enhance the effect. Asafetida is a classic for exorcism and purification rites. Use it to smudg a ritual space with smoke. Unfortunately, though asafetida is powerful, it also has a horrible odor. Just the slightest whiff of the fragrance has been known to cause vomiting. Use with Care!

The pungent gum is extracted from the living rootstock by notching the plant at soil level. It was a popular Roman condiment. (If you can imagine that!) Research suggests the plant is anticoagulant and lowers blood pressure. Used to treat stomach ailments such as intestinal flu, gas, and bloating. Add a pinch to beans as they cook.

The herb is good in cases of Candida albicans. Has been used for asthma, broncitis, and whooping cough because of it’s antispasmodic properties and is a good herb for croup and colic in babies (newborns should get it through their mother’s milk). Another method is to give it to infants via the rectum – make an emulsion with four parts asafetida to one hundred parts water and insert. It has been used as a sedative for hysteria and convulsion.

Please Note: This herb tastes awful and is perhaps best taken in capsule form, one hundred millegrams to one gram being the dose.

Posted by Lady Abigail

Casting Spells Using Dried Herbs

The most prevalent ingredient of magick spells are processed herbs, especially dried plants and oils. Drying plants preserves them for extended use, allowing you to work with  plants out of season and those that cannot be grown in your personal region. Dried herbs from all over the world, representing many magical traditions, may be purchased from herbal suppliers.

Dried herbs are frequently sold already chopped up, cut or powdered. As this frequently needs to be done before spellcasting purchasing herbs in this form can be a real-time and effort saver–with one caveat. Leaves and blossoms, even chopped, other remain easily distinguishable. Peppermint doesn’t smell like vervain or hibiscus, for instance. Roots on the other hand,  other the most magickally potent part of a plant,  once chopped or powdered, are fairly indistinguishable from  each other. It is not uncommon for unethical or ignorant vendors to substitute one  root for another. If you are looking for a distinct root, say High John the Conqueror, for whom this is a common problem, buy the whole root and ground and powder it yourself, even though this can be difficult.  It is the only way to guarantee that you are receiving what you want, the only way to maintain control over what may be a pivotal ingredient. Familiarize yourself with herbs. Know what they should look like and what they should smell like, and you will be less likely to be fooled.

If you grow plants or have access to fresh plants, it’s extremely easy, virtually child’s play, to dry them yourself.