Herb of the Month: Star Anise

Common name: Star Anise

Folk name: Chinese Anise

Parts used: leaves, oils, bark, seeds

Planet: Jupiter

Element: Air

Zodiac: Pisces, Sagittarius

Gender: Feminine

Goddess/ God: Buddha, Quan Yin

Medicinal uses: The fruits and foliage yield essential oil for medicinally promote appetite and digestion and to relieve chest complaints, rheumatism, and flatulence. Japanese Star Anise (Illicium anisatum) has cardamom-scented, poisonous fruits, used externally in Asian medicine. Its flower lacks scent and the leaves are a poison.

Folklore: The seed and pods are used as a spice in Asian cookery, notably as an ingredient of Chinese five-spice powder. The Japanese Star Anise is revered in Japan and planted near Buddhist temples, where the bark is burned as incense.

Magickal Effects: psychic awareness, calm, peace, luck

Magickal uses: Inhaling the scent of the dried fruits while sitting quietly can awaken your psychic abilities, allowing your subconscious to unlock its secrets. The Star Anise was made for incense with its pungent scent, especially incense used for meditation. The herb can also be used in luck spells especially in the form of a sachet; just add some of the strong smelling seeds/fruits in an orange sachet with the correct enchantments to unlock its luck attracting abilities (Your need and intent should be the enchantment let that energy flow into the star anise then carry them with you in the sachet.)

Herb of the Month: Juniper/Cedar

This months herb is a special one, for its species holds two powerful herbs in occultism. Juniperus communis or Common Juniper and Juniperus Virginiana other wise known as Cedar wood (Cedar for short). So as a special treat I will be posting occult correspondences for both these popular magickal and medicinal herbs. First up:

Juniper (Juniperus Communis)

(Juniper Communis)

Folk name: Common Juniper
Parts used: leaves, berries, wood, essential oil
Planet: Sun
Element: Fire
Gender: Both, this herb has feminine and masculine energies
Goddess/God: Inanna also called Ishtar
Medicinal uses: The cones or "berries" yield brown dye and the antiseptic, diuretic, and detoxifying Juniper oil, used to treat cystitis, acne, eczema, cellulite, and rheumatism.
Folklore: The ripe cones or "berries" flavor gin, Chartreuse, pates, and game. Native Americans boiled the "berries" to treat colds and burned the needles as incense. Juniper was widely used as incense in Sumer, Babylon and Egypt for spiritual purposes and to honor both Goddesses and Gods. It is sacred specifically to Inanna who was later called Ishtar. Centuries later in Europe, branches of Juniper were smoldered and carried around fields and farms to release their protective energies, guarding both livestock and crops.
Magickal effects: Protection, Purification, Healing
Magickal uses: In traditional aromatherapy Juniper essential oil is used to detox the body, as a parasiticide (parasite destroyer) and antiseptic. Notice how this medicinal property coincides with Juniper's magickal use of purifying homes and fields. Juniper can be used for protective rituals designed to ward off negativity as well as to purge such negative energies from a person or place. You can inhale Juniper essential oil (or dried herbal sachet) while visualizing it's energies guarding you from negativity and danger. You can also use this technique for internal purification, inhale the fragrance and visualize thusly. Juniper can be used as part of health-maintaining rituals, regularly smell the scent while visualizing yourself eating correctly, exercising and thinking positively. * Burning it as incense before taking part in health-maintenance activities can aid in attaining the full benefits of those healthy exercises. Juniper can be used in the making of "besomes", or magickal brooms, it can add purifying and protective energies to such a magickal tool.

 

                                                                

Cedar wood (Juniperus Virginiana)

Folk name: Tree of the Lord, Red Cedar
Parts used: dried wood, essential oil
Planet: Sun
Element: Fire
Gender: Both
Goddess/God: All; Cedar has long been used as a sacred incense to honor a variety of deities.
Medicinal uses: Eastern Red Cedar wood (juniperus virginiana) yields an essential oil used for it's medicinal properties and insecticidal (insect killing) properties. The cedar of Lebanon has a fragrant resin that has been used since anent times: in incense, cosmetics, for embalming, and to treat leprosy and parasites. Today this oil (or actually the Atlas Cedar subspecies of this herb) are used for its pest repelling properties and is favored amongst aromatherapists to treat chronic anxiety, cystitis, skin problems, and bronchial issues. Cedar oil may inhibit the division of tumor cells.
Folklore: In ancient times, cedar from Lebanon was highly prized. In fact, the name Lebanon is derived from the Akkadian word "lubbunu", meaning incense. It was the most popular and widely used incense in Mesopotamian regions and by pre-contact Native Americans. The extravagant use of Lebanon Cedar in the building of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and Solomon's Temple nearly caused the tree's extinction.
Magickal effects: Spirituality, self-control, visions
Magickal uses: Cedar wood chests are ideal for storing magical supplies (except herbs and essential oils). Atlas Cedar Wood (cedar atlantica) and Red Cedar Wood (juniperus virginiana) are the two main cedar wood oils available. They share very similar properties and so can be used with equal effectiveness in magical aromatherapy as well as in other magical rites that call for such ingredients. The fragrance of both wood and oil promotes spirituality, simply inhale the sweet antiseptic and calming scent before religious or spiritual rituals to deepen connection with deity or spirit. Cedar's scent is ideal in it's spiritual qualities for bringing ourselves into balance. This is a technique I (Tytus Lionheart) use often as I suffer from anxiety, stress, and high-blood pressure: Smell the aroma and visualize yourself as poised, calm and in control of your own life. I keep a small container of cedar to use for this very purpose, it honestly calms my tension and brings my mind, body and spirit into balance; Highly recommended (with usual medical treatment from your doctor) for those suffering from these ailments.
**WARNING: Pregnant women should NOT use cedar wood oil**

                                                          (Juniperus Virginiana)



Sources for herb of the month: Juniper 9/2012

• "Smithsonian Handbooks: HERBS" by Lesley Bremness
• "Magical Aromatherapy" by Scott Cunningham
• "Pagan Magical Properties of Herbs" by DragonOak on http://www.squidoo.com/PaganHerb

Check out more about Juniper at Luminearth.com

Herb of the Week: Pokeweed

Folk Name: Pigeon Berry
Parts Used: leaf, shoot/stem, root, fruit/nut
Planet: Uranus
Element: Air
Gender: Masculine
Medicinal Uses: Shoots are eaten after they are properly boiled for a long period. The anti-inflammatory root is given for swollen throat glands. It is purgative and narcotic, expels phlegm, soothes arthritis, kills sperm, and, with the leaf, treats fungal infections. Further research has shown that a component of Pokeweed is useful to the immune system and has proteins that inhibit flu, herpes, and leukemia. This herb must be used with care, respect and expertise because used wrongly it can be deadly.
Folklore: The Declaration of Independence was written in fermented pokeweed berry ink. The Native Americans introduced the herb to the European settlers who loved it and took it back to the old country where it now grows wild.
Magickal Uses: Used to break hexes and curses especially during the New Moon. To break a hex/ curse make an infusion of the herb and sprinkle around the victims home counter-clockwise. You can also add a bit to the bathwater but be sure not to drink any of it! The berries of pokeweed are crushed and used to make magickal ink for writing protection spells and hex-breaking spells. The juice of the berries can also be used in placed of blood in rituals that call for it.

See Luminearth's post on Pokeweed

New Weekly Occult Herbs!

In partnership with Luminearth I have accepted the privilege of sharing my occult input on herbs from "LuminEarth’s Guide To Wild Edible & Medicinal Plants". I will share here my occult correspondences and have a link also to the herb site at Luminearth. I hope these occult correspondences help aid the interested student of natural magick, let these notes and tables be a guide for you and your work. Beatus Esse, Tytus Lionheart.


First Plant for this week:
 (sorry I know it a little late in the week but next week is gonna be right on time!)

 Plantago Major: Broadleaf Plantain

Herbal Occult Info and Folk Medicinal Properties
 Folk Name: White-Man’s Foot
Parts Used: leaf, shoot/stem, seed
Planet: Venus
Element: Earth
Gender: Feminine
Goddesses/Gods: Hecate (with its road correspondence and feminine nature), there is little known about this herb but it is a sacred herb and can be used to honor all Goddesses and Gods.
Medicinal Uses: A leaf poultice is used to speed a wounds healing. The leaves treat urinary infections, burns, bee stings, hemorrhoids, and conjunctivitis. They are mucilaginous and expectorant. The Seeds are high in fiber; their mucilage may lower cholesterol and is used in cosmetics. In the wild, if you are injured chew on the leaves of the plantain to make a spit-poultice, then place this on the wound using a small amount of dirt to bind it if necessary. this will pull all the germs and help promote healing, and this can also work for removing splinters.
Folklore: In Latin America it is a folk remedy for cancer. In China, it’s made into a detoxifying tea for treating tubercular ulcers and diarrhea. The herb was one of the nine sacred herbs of the Angelo-Saxons and was used for poisonous bites and related injuries.
Magickal Uses: The plantain is used in protection spells for the home and the car as well as for travelers, especially those traveling on a road (which is where this plant likes to grow). The plantain can give power to magickal workings in general. The herb is also used in healing sachets, specifically for headaches and fatigue.

Check out Luminearth's page on the Broadleaf Plantain.

Speacial Thanks to Becki Baumgartner from Luminearth.