How to Choose the Right Herb for Your Work
Categorizing the Element, Gender, &
Planet
I’d like to share the information I've learned over the years regarding the “Gender, Planet &
Element” of the herbs and how these aspects affect what herbs should be used for each specific work. Some of them will vary from that found elsewhere (such
as books and online). The reason being that, during my own personal research
and experimentation I found the information to be incorrect, contradictory,
different from one source to another, or just not there at all.
After a lot
of research I found that the herbs are divided in these categories for specific
reasons, such as the part of the plant used, the magickal intents it’s used
for, or its medicinal uses. Each category has a set of standards that, when an
herb is not in the right “category” in one of the placements of “Gender,
Planet, & Element”, then it makes the information contradictory, if not incorrect.
And as I never found any explanation for the incorrect usage, but plenty for
how to apply correct categorization, I subsequently altered the incorrect
information.
Each herb is
categorized according to the combined attributes of: the Element (Earth, Air,
Fire, or Water), its gender (Masculine or Feminine), the part of the herb used
(Seed, Root, Leaf, or Flower), and the Planet (the Zodiac and the planets of
the days of the week). Here are the four groupings from which a plant is
categorized:
Element:
|
Gender:
|
Planets:
|
Part:
|
Air
|
Masculine
|
Aquarius, Gemini,
Jupiter, Mercury
|
Flower
|
Fire
|
Masculine
|
Aries, Jupiter,
Leo, Mars, Sun, Sagittarius
|
Seed
|
Earth
|
Feminine
|
Capricorn, Earth,
Saturn, Taurus, Virgo
|
Root
|
Water
|
Feminine
|
Cancer, Moon,
Pisces, Saturn, Scorpio, Venus
|
Leaf
|
***
Herb Usage in Magick Works
When we
begin our Pagan’s/Witch’s Path we begin with simple actions such as lighting a
candle and incense. Those are so easy. They’re so harmless. Everybody does it,
so it doesn’t look like you’re doing something “weird”. Nobody has to know
you’re actually doing a spell.
But then you
begin to feel like you need “more”. Something’s missing but you’re not totally
sure what. You think of the what your books and online articles say: herbs,
oils, and stones. Ok, oils are easy, they can be bought in little bottles
already labeled as to what they’re for. You have no idea what’s in them, but
who cares at this point, its just all too confusing. But then you get to the
herbs. Oh, shit. WTF! Now what?
I mean,
there are literally millions of plants, herbs, and trees that each have their
own attributes that can be applied in your magickal works. So, now you have to
research all those herbs. Some websites list a few, some sites list hundreds.
Books are great for learning even more about these herbs & plants. My own
personal library has more than a dozen various books on herbs, their uses,
growing & harvesting them, etc.
But, what
about those spells that call for all these “odd” herbs you don’t have? You’ll
have to either buy them or grow them, provided you live in the right climate.
There has to be an easier way to acquire an herb pantry with enough variation
in herbs that have a good cross-over of attributes that you won’t have to buy
or grow too many.
Aside from
deciding which herbs have enough cross-over attributes you will have to also
take into consideration who or what they’re being used for, meaning the gender
of the person or energy of the intent.
For example: a woman who needs personal
power to overcome a co-dependency situation would need very powerful herbs of
strength & protection. You might consider herbs that are feminine in gender
because she’s a woman, but to overcome a very masculine problem you would need
masculine energies to fight them with. A simple amulet to carry around for this
situation would be an acorn, which is a favorite of the old Scottish Witches
for strength & protection. There are many herbs that are excellent for
burning in ritual, dressing a candle, adding to a ritual meal. But you must
make sure that the herbs chosen have all of the attributes that fit the
situation, not just “strength & protection”. In our example we will look
for “power, protection, strength”.
The attributes
known for each herb must be taken not individually, but almost as a whole. For
the above mentioned example here are a few comparisons:
Agrimony: Banishing, Binding,
Counter-magick, Exorcising, Healing, Hex breaking, Protection, Reverse spells,
Sleep
Alder: Adventurism, Banishing &
controlling Elementals, Bravery, Charisma, Charm, Face that which you’ve been
avoiding, Creation magick, Divination, Elemental magick, Faery magick, Guidance, Fertility, Journeys, Leadership,
Love, Prophecy, Protection, Resurrection, Sacred to Druids, Self-confidence,
Spiritual growth, Supervision skills, Visions, Weather magick, Wind magick
Camphor: Chastity, Control, Divination,
Dreams, Health, House blessing, Personal influence, Past-life memories,
Persuasiveness, Psychic awareness, Purification, Sexual desire repression
Carnation: Emotional healing, Healing,
Luck, Masculine energy, Power, Protection, Strength, Vitality
Cayenne: Cleansing, Divorce spells,
Fire magick, Healing, Hexing, Love, Passion, Protection, Purification, Repels
negative energy, Separation spells, Strength, Un-hexing
Chrysanthemum: Protection, Strength
Cinnamon: Abundance, Aphrodisiac, Attraction, Creativity, Courage,
Energy, Fertility, Financial matters, Fortune, Healing, Love, Luck, Lust,
Passion, Power, Protection, Prosperity, Psychic powers, Speed, Spirituality,
Strength, Success
Dragon’s Blood: Aggression, Banishing,
Courage, Defensive magick, Dragon magick, Empowerment, Energy, Exorcism,
Fertility, Fire Elemental invocation, Empowerment, Fire magick, Hex breaking,
Love, Lust, Physical strength, Political magick, Potency, Power, Power
amplifier, Protection, Purification, Rapid results, Sex magick, Strength ,
Warding evil
Fennel: Clear vision, Flattery,
Healing, Power, Protection, Purification, Sex magick, Strength, Vitality
Hawthorn: Anti-lightning, Attract
Faeries, Banish negative spirits, Celibacy, Charm making, Chastity, Cleansing,
Clear away old habits, Concealing magick, Creativity, Faery magick, Fertility,
Fishing magick, Ghost repelling, Happiness, Health, Inner journeys, Insight,
Intuition, Love, Masculine sexuality, Marriage, Patience, Prosperity,
Protection, Psychic protection, Purification, Purity, Self-confidence,
Sexuality, Wands, Weather magick, Wishes
There are
many, many more, but these will do for this demonstration. Now, look at each of
those herbs mentioned. What “feel” do you “see” in this grouping of herbs?
Never mind their attributes, I‘m referring to the herbs themselves. They’re all
“spicy”! They have a “bite” to them. They emote a strong essence.
Now, compare
those above with these in relation to the situation we are working on (personal
empowerment to overcome co-dependency):
Cedar: Abundance, Baby blessing,
Courage, Fertility, Fortune, Healing, Health, Money, Love, Luck, Power,
Prosperity, Protection, Psychic power, Purification, Strength, Wealth,
Wiccaning
Ginger: Abundance, Courage, Fertility,
Fortune, Love, Luck, Money, Power, Prosperity, Sex magick, Sexuality, Strength,
Success
Ginseng: Beauty, Healing, Health, Love,
Lust, Protection, Purification, Wishes
Kelp: Healing, Protection, Strength,
Travel, Water magick
Mandrake: Binding, Fertility, Health,
Love, Magick, Money, Power, Protection, Psychic powers, Sexuality
Mistletoe: Abundance, Business,
Creativity, Exorcism, Faery magick, Fertility, Fortune, Handfasting, Healing,
Health, Hunting, Love, Luck, Peace, Prosperity, Protection, Purity, Repels
negative energy, Sexuality, Strength, Success
That’s
enough for here. Ok, what do you “see” & “feel” here? They’re “warm”, but
not “spicy”. While the wanted “power, protection, strength” may be given
attributes, there are many others that do not “fit” the situation we’re dealing
with. These have an abundance of money, travel, and sexuality in them. These
would be fine as a secondary ritual to acquire the money needed to travel away
from a sexually explosive relationship……can you see what I’m doing? I’m reading
the herbs like a descriptive sentence.
I know this
sounds like a lot to do, but the way I started out studying which herbs to work
together with in particular rituals, is to look them up, write them down (or
copy & paste on the computer - much easier), and then compare them by
reading them into my descriptive sentence. Sometimes I feel compelled to add
one that I wasn’t planning on. If my intuition is telling me to add it, then I
do. Later, when I double check it, I am always amazed at what its attributes
are because they inevitably add a dimension to the herbal energies that I
wasn’t even thinking about, but were the perfect “cherry on top”!
Herbs can be
intimidating at first. Too many books & websites only list the herbs by
their attributes, but don’t take into consideration their gender, planet, or
element. This will make a difference, especially in certain situations.
Another
method when considering which herbs for a situation is to make a list of the
herbs you want that have the correct correspondences, then divide them
according to Gender, Planet, and Element. Here’s an example for the purpose of
“Blockages Removed”:
Herbs of Choice:
Cayenne
Chamomile
Dragon’s
Blood
Hyssop
Lemon
Pepper
Sage
Yarrow
Masculine Herbs:
Cayenne
Chamomile
Dragon’s
Blood
Hyssop
Pepper
Sage
Feminine Herbs:
Lemon
Yarrow
Planet of Each Herb:
Sun: Chamomile
Moon: Lemon
Mars: Cayenne, Dragon’s Blood, Pepper
Jupiter: Hyssop, Sage
Venus: Yarrow
Saturn: Yarrow
Element of Each Herb:
Earth: Yarrow
Air: Sage
Fire: Cayenne, Chamomile, Dragon’s
Blood, Hyssop, Pepper
Water: Lemon, Yarrow
Now, look at
each in each correspondence and see which ones have the same aspects of Gender,
Planet, and Element.
Masculine/Mars/Fire:
Cayenne,
Dragon’s Blood, Pepper
Masculine/Jupiter (2)/Sun (1)/Fire (2)/Air
(1):
Chamomile,
Hyssop, Sage
Chamomile’s
planet is the Sun, its addition here being obvious, as it is a great big ball
of fire in the sky.
Sage’s
Element is Air, but it is included with Chamomile & Hyssop because it has
two of the same aspects plus Air which fuels Fire. Without Air Fire is
non-existent.
Feminine/Moon/Saturn/Earth (1)/Water (2):
Lemon,
Yarrow
These are
both Feminine plants. While Yarrow has aspects of both Water & Earth, it is
the aspects of Water that would be included when using these two together.
Analyze
these 3 recipes. Which one would be the strongest and most powerful, and thus
the best for a hard & fast blockage removal? Which one would work best for
a long term, subtle blockage removal?
Hard & fast: 1st choice: Cayenne,
Dragon’s Blood, Pepper; 2nd choice: Chamomile, Hyssop, Sage
Slow & subtle: Lemon, Yarrow
Each will
work for blockage removal, which to use is dependent upon what effect you need
or want.
Get to know
these Gender, Planet, Element formulas, it will make a huge difference
in your herbal knowledge and working. (Nobody taught me this, I had to figure
it out for myself. I hope it will be of as much use to all of you as it has
been for me).
thank you so much for sharing this information...
ReplyDeleteThank you & you're welcome! I'm glad you found it helpful. :)
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