Post by Allan on Aug 4, 2007 15:41:50 GMT -5
Catnip
MEDICINAL: Catnip is effective alone or in herbal remedies for colds, flu, fevers, upset stomach, and insomnia. Particularly good for children with upset stomachs in a very mild infusion.
MAGICKAL: Use the large leaves, well dried, to mark pages in magickal books. Use in conjunction with rose petals in love sachets. It will also create a psychic bond between you and your cat. Grow near your home to attract luck and good spirits.
GROWING: Catnip will grow in most soils, and tends to enjoy a bit of the dry spells once it is established. It grows throughout North America, and is a perennial reaching to 3 feet high.
Cat's Claw
MEDICINAL: Also known as una de gato. Used in treatment of arthritis, gastritis, tumors, dysentery, female hormonal imbalances, viral infections. It is effective in aiding treatment of the immune system, the intestinal system, and the cardivoascular system. This herb should not be taken by those who have received an organ transplant, nor by pregnant or nursing women.
Cayenne
MEDICINAL: Cayenne, also called capsicum, is very effective added to liniments for all sorts of arthritis and muscle aches. It benefits the heart and circulation when taken alone or added to other remedies. It is also used to stimulate the action of other herbs. It will stop bleeding both externally and internally, making it excellent for use with ulcers. It is used in antibiotic combinations, for menstrual cramps, and as a part of treatment for depression.
MAGICKAL: Cayenne pepper scattered around your house will break bad spells. Adding it to love powders will ensure that your love will be spicy, and can inflame the loved one with passion.
GROWING: Cayenne pepper plants like a good, rich soil, plenty of water, and full sun. The peppers are dried after ripening. For herbal use, the peppers are usually ground into a powder and mixed with other powdered herbs in capsules.
Cedar
MAGICKAL: Cedar chips used in rituals or burnt attracts money, and is also used in purification and healing. It is a symbol of power and longevity. Hung in the home it will protect against lightning. Juniper can be used in place of cedar.
GROWING: There are many types of cedars that grow throughout the world. Check with your local nursery for varieties best suited to your area. Cedars are evergreen perennials that are attractive in any landscape.
*Chamomile
MEDICINAL: Use the tea for nerves and menstrual cramps. The tea is also useful for babies and small children with colds and stomach troubles. Also used to calm the body for inducing sleep in insomniac conditions. It is also a good wash for sore eyes and open sores.
MAGICKAL: Chamomile is used in prosperity charms to attract money. Added to incense, it will produce a relaxed state for better meditation. Burned alone it will induce sleep. Added to a ritual bath, it will attract love. Sprinkle it around your property to remove curses and bad spells.
GROWING: Chamomile is an annual that adapts to most soils, likes lots of water and full sun. It grows up to 20 inches tall.
Chickenpox
To relieve the itching that usually makes chickenpox so unbearable, you can make a concoction of chickweed, comfrey, and rosemary. Apply the warm mixture with a clean cloth. Don't rub, as this will irritate the sores and can cause them to leave scars, but gently pat the solution on. Allow to air dry. This can be applied several times per day to relieve the itching. Internally, the child may benefit from a mild infusion of echinacea, catnip, chickweed, and yarrow. After the illness, and after any illness, the child's digestive system will benefit from acidophilus, or a cup of yogurt, to aid getting the beneficial bacteria in the digestive system back in balance.
Chickweed
MEDICINAL: Chickweed is an excellent source of many B vitamins and various minerals. It is used to treat bronchitis, pleurisy, coughs, colds, and as a blood builder. Externally it is good for skin diseases, and the tea added to the bath is good for soothing skin irritations and rashes.
MAGICKAL: Chickweed is carried and/or used in spells to attract love and to maintain a relationship.
GROWING: This annual spreading plant is usually hated as an obnoxious weed by the typical gardener. It is found throughout temperate areas of North America and of Europe, the plant's native homeland. It prefers full sun, average to poor soils, and infrequent watering.
Chiggers
Melt bacon grease in an iron skillet. Add enough regular table salt to make a paste. Use a Q-tip to dab this mixture on your chigger bites. Reportedly two treatments are enough to give you relief.
Cilantro
This herb that gives a lot of Mexican food its flavor, is also a good digestive aid. The flowers and leaves are edible, so throw the flowers in a salad and use some of the leaves to make a cup of tea to have after a heavy meal. The dried seeds (usually called coriander) can
be chewed to freshen your breath.
Cinnamon
MEDICINAL: Add cinnamon to remedies for acute symptoms, as this herb is a stimulant to other herbs and the body, enabling herbal remedies to work faster. It is also a blood purifier, an infection preventer, and a digestive aid. Do not ingest cinnamon oil.
MAGICKAL: Burned in incense, cinnamon will promote high spirituality. It is also used to stimulate the passions of the male. It should also be burned in incenses used for healing. The essential oil is used for protection.
Clover
MEDICINAL: Red Clover is used as a nerve tonic and as a sedative for exhaustion. It is used to strengthen those children with weak systems, and is used with children for coughs, bronchitis, wheezing, as it is mild to their systems. It is often used in combination with many other drugs in the treatment of cancer. It is also used for skin eruptions (acne).
MAGICKAL: Clover brings luck, prsperity, and health. Carrying a three-leaf clover gives you protection. Worn over the right breast it will bring you success in all undertakings.
GROWING: Grow clover as you would lawn grasses. Clover is an excellent cover crop, planted in fallow areas and turned under in the fall, it makes an excellent fertilizer for poor soils.
Cloves
MEDICINAL: Clove oil will stop a toothache when it is applied directly to the cavity. It is very warm and stimulating to the system, and is very useful with people who have cold extremities. Cloves will promote sweating with fevers, colds, and flu. It is often used in remedies for whooping cough. Cloves are also safe and effective for relieving vomiting during pregnancy.
MAGICKAL: Cloves worn in an amulet will drive away negativity and hostility, and stop gossip. It is often carried to stimulate the memory, and can be added to attraction sachets. Clove oil is also worn as an aphrodisiac, and the buds when eaten are said to stir up bodily lusts. It is placed in sachets with mint and rose to chase away melancholy and to help one sleep soundly. Carried, it can also bring comfort to the bereaved and mourning.
Coltsfoot
MEDICINAL: Used to treat respiratory problems, and is soothing to the stomach and intestines. Combine with horehound, ginger, and licorice root for a soothing cough syrup.
MAGICKAL: Coltsfoot is added to love sachets and is used in spells of peace and tranquility.
GROWING: Coltsfoot is a perennial that prefers damp, clay soils. It grows 5 to 18 inches high, and likesfull to partial sun.
Comfrey
MEDICINAL: A poultice of comfrey heals wounds, burns, sores, and bruises. It is a powerful remedy for coughs, ulcers, healing broken bones and sprains, and is used in treating asthma. Large amounts or dosages can cause liver damage, but there are no problems with using it externally. Used internally, it is best and safest to use a tea, rather than capsules.
MAGICKAL: Carrying comfrey during travel will ensure your safety. Put some in your luggage to prevent it being lost or stolen. It will also bring luck to the carrier.
GROWING: Comfrey prefers well-drained soils and partial shade. It grows from Canada to Georgia, as far west as Missouri, in the wild. It is a perennial that grows to 3 feet high. It can be started from seed, but you will be more successful with cuttings. Once established, it will spread vigorously. Harvest leaves when the flowers bud, and roots in the autumn after the first frost.
Contact Dermatitis
Contact dermatitis can develop after exposure to chemicals and allergens like soaps, detergents, solvents, preservatives and other chemicals. Try to limit or eliminate exposure and use natural herbal remedies to soothe the area. Make a very strong tea from Urtica, rosemary, stellaria, burdock, and cleaver. Use a few or all of these herbs, depending on what you can find. Apply the cooled tea to the skin often with a cotton ball. If desired, you can sip one cup of the tea 2 or 3 times a day.
Cordyceps
MEDICINAL: This group derives from Chinese mushrooms. They are used as a tonic that is considered to restore sexual potency and improve general vitality. It is believed that as general vitality is restored, so to will "vital function" be restored.
Cornflower
MEDICINAL: Juices from the stems of this plant are used externally to treat wounds and cuts.
MAGICKAL: Cornflower is used to promote and enhance phsychic sight, as well as normal eyesight.
GROWING: Cornflower is adaptable to many soils and conditions. It is an annual that grows 1 - 2 feet tall.
Corns
Here are two remedies for those bothersome corns on your feet.
Soak common ivy leaves for a couple of days in apple cider vinegar, or for several hours in lemon juice. Soak your feet in hot water, then apply two or three leaves to the corn and tape securely into place. Repeat this until the corns are soft enough to lift out.
Or, put a corn pad on the corn at night and fill the little opening in it (over the corn) with crushed garlic. Tape over and around the pad and repeat this each night until the corn softens and comes out.
Cramp Bark
MEDICINAL: Cramp Bark is one of the best female regulators in the herb world. It is a uterine sedative, aiding in menstrual cramps and afterbirth. It helps to prevent miscarriage, as well as internal hemmorhaging. Damiana is used to regulate the female cycles. It is also used to stimulate the sexualappetite. It is good for urinary problems and nervousness, as well as hypertension.
MAGICKAL: Damiana is used in infusions to incite lust, and is burned to produce visions.
Dandelion
MEDICINAL: Dandelion benefits all aspects of the liver. It clears obstructions and detoxifies poisons. It will also promote healthy circulation. The juice from a broken stem can be applied to warts and allowed to dry; used for 3 days or so it will dry up the warts. It is also used to treat premenstrual syndrome, as it is a diuretic. Also helps clear skin eruptions.
MAGICKAL: It is a sign of rain when the down from a ripened dandelion head falls without wind helping it to do so. To blow the seeds off a ripened head is to carry your thoughts to a loved one, near or far.
GROWING: Dandelion is a common yard, garden, and roadside weed. Do not gather where chemicals have been used, and don't gather those near roadsides, as they have been contaminated from exhausts.
Dill
MEDICINAL: Dill is used to treat colic, gas, and indigestion.
MAGICKAL: Dill is used in love and protection sachets. The dried seed heads hung in the home, over doorways, and above cradles provides protection. Add dill to your bath to make you irresistible to your lover.
GROWING: Dill grows in most regions of North America. It needs sun and a well-drained soil, and frequent waterings. It is a hardy annual, biennial in the deep southern regions, that reaches 2 - 3 feet tall. Dill matures quickly, and self-sows for the following year. Plant in six week intervals for a season-long supply of fresh dill.
Dong Quai
MEDICINAL: A powerful herb for the female reproductive system. It is a powerful uterine tonic and hormonal regulator. Used in premenstrual syndrome formulas as well as menopausal formulas.
Dragon's Blood
MEDICINAL: The resin of Dragon's Blood is used externally as a wash to promote healing and stop bleeding. Internally it is used for chest pains, post-partum bleeding, internal traumas, and menstrual irregularities.
MAGICKAL: Added to love incenses and sachets, it increases the potency of other herbs used. A piece of the plant is often used under the mattress as a cure for impotency. It is also used in spells to bring back a loved one. A pinch added to other herbs for magickal purposes will increase their potency.
Dyspepsia
One cause of indigestion, or dyspepsia, is holiday
overindulgence in food or drink. Make a tea with one
teaspoon of dried meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) per cup
of boiling water. Infuse for 10 minutes. Drink once or
twice a day before your next meal to sooth your digestive
tract
Echinacea
MEDICINAL: Echinacea, also known as Purple Coneflower, is a natural antibiotic and immune system stimulator, helping to build resistance to colds, flus, and infections. It increases the production of white blood cells, and improves the lymph glands. The tea from this herb should be used in all infections, and has been used in treating skin cancers and other cancers.
MAGICKAL: Echinacea is used as an offering to the spirits or gods and goddesses to strengthen a spell or ritual.
GROWING: Echinacea likes the prairies and other open, dry places. It adapts to most soils, in full sun, except wet ones. It grows over most of North America. It is a perennial, and reaches to about 2 feet tall. The root is used ground, and the leaves are used for teas.
Elder
MEDICINAL: Elder flowers mixed with mint and yarrow blossoms are excellent internal cleansers when fighting flu and colds. A tea of the elder flowers and sassafras is a remedy for acne. Elder flower oil is a remedy for chapped skin. The leaves can be used as an antiseptic poultice for external wounds, and as an insect repellant. Should not be used internally by pregnant or lactating women.
MAGICKAL: The branches of the sacred elder are used to make magickal wands for ritual. Scattering the leaves in the four winds will bring protection. Elderberry wine, made from the berries, is used in rituals. In Denmark, it is believed to be unlucky to have furniture made of elder wood. Grown near your home, elder will offer protection to the dwellers. It is used at weddings to bring good luck to the newlyweds. Flutes made formt he branches are used to bring forth spirits.
GROWING: Elder is a tree or shrub, growing to 30 feet tall. It prefers moist areas throughout North America. The leaves, bark, and roots of the American varieties generally contain poisonous alkaloids and should not be used internally.
Elecampane
MEDICINAL: Elecampane is used for intestinal worms, water retention, and to lessen tooth decay and firm the gums. It gives relief to respiratory ailments. It is usually used in combination with other herbs.Externally it is used as a wash for wounds and itching rashes. It is burned to repel insects.
MAGICKAL: Add this herb to love charms and amulets of all kinds. Used with mistletoe and vervain, itis especially powerful. Use when scrying for better results.
GROWING: Elecampane enjoys roadsides and damp fields and pastures. Plant it in full sun in a damp, but not soggy, location. It is a perennial that grows 3 - 6 feet tall. The root is most commonly used.
Eucalyptus
MEDICINAL: Eucalyptus oil is a powerful antiseptic, and is used to treat pyorrhea (gum disease), and is used on burns to prevent infections. The oil breathed in will help clear the sinuses, as will the steam from boiling the leaves. When mixed with water or vegetable oils, it makes a good insect repellant. A small drop on the tongue eases nausea.
MAGICKAL: Healing energies come from the leaves. A branch or wreath over the bed of a sick person will help spread the healing energies. The oil is added to healing baths, and for purifications.
GROWING: Eucalyptus reigns among the tallest trees in the world, capable of reaching heights of over 250 feet tall. It thrives only in areas where the average temperature remains above 60 degrees, and is adaptable to several soil conditions.
MEDICINAL: Catnip is effective alone or in herbal remedies for colds, flu, fevers, upset stomach, and insomnia. Particularly good for children with upset stomachs in a very mild infusion.
MAGICKAL: Use the large leaves, well dried, to mark pages in magickal books. Use in conjunction with rose petals in love sachets. It will also create a psychic bond between you and your cat. Grow near your home to attract luck and good spirits.
GROWING: Catnip will grow in most soils, and tends to enjoy a bit of the dry spells once it is established. It grows throughout North America, and is a perennial reaching to 3 feet high.
Cat's Claw
MEDICINAL: Also known as una de gato. Used in treatment of arthritis, gastritis, tumors, dysentery, female hormonal imbalances, viral infections. It is effective in aiding treatment of the immune system, the intestinal system, and the cardivoascular system. This herb should not be taken by those who have received an organ transplant, nor by pregnant or nursing women.
Cayenne
MEDICINAL: Cayenne, also called capsicum, is very effective added to liniments for all sorts of arthritis and muscle aches. It benefits the heart and circulation when taken alone or added to other remedies. It is also used to stimulate the action of other herbs. It will stop bleeding both externally and internally, making it excellent for use with ulcers. It is used in antibiotic combinations, for menstrual cramps, and as a part of treatment for depression.
MAGICKAL: Cayenne pepper scattered around your house will break bad spells. Adding it to love powders will ensure that your love will be spicy, and can inflame the loved one with passion.
GROWING: Cayenne pepper plants like a good, rich soil, plenty of water, and full sun. The peppers are dried after ripening. For herbal use, the peppers are usually ground into a powder and mixed with other powdered herbs in capsules.
Cedar
MAGICKAL: Cedar chips used in rituals or burnt attracts money, and is also used in purification and healing. It is a symbol of power and longevity. Hung in the home it will protect against lightning. Juniper can be used in place of cedar.
GROWING: There are many types of cedars that grow throughout the world. Check with your local nursery for varieties best suited to your area. Cedars are evergreen perennials that are attractive in any landscape.
*Chamomile
MEDICINAL: Use the tea for nerves and menstrual cramps. The tea is also useful for babies and small children with colds and stomach troubles. Also used to calm the body for inducing sleep in insomniac conditions. It is also a good wash for sore eyes and open sores.
MAGICKAL: Chamomile is used in prosperity charms to attract money. Added to incense, it will produce a relaxed state for better meditation. Burned alone it will induce sleep. Added to a ritual bath, it will attract love. Sprinkle it around your property to remove curses and bad spells.
GROWING: Chamomile is an annual that adapts to most soils, likes lots of water and full sun. It grows up to 20 inches tall.
Chickenpox
To relieve the itching that usually makes chickenpox so unbearable, you can make a concoction of chickweed, comfrey, and rosemary. Apply the warm mixture with a clean cloth. Don't rub, as this will irritate the sores and can cause them to leave scars, but gently pat the solution on. Allow to air dry. This can be applied several times per day to relieve the itching. Internally, the child may benefit from a mild infusion of echinacea, catnip, chickweed, and yarrow. After the illness, and after any illness, the child's digestive system will benefit from acidophilus, or a cup of yogurt, to aid getting the beneficial bacteria in the digestive system back in balance.
Chickweed
MEDICINAL: Chickweed is an excellent source of many B vitamins and various minerals. It is used to treat bronchitis, pleurisy, coughs, colds, and as a blood builder. Externally it is good for skin diseases, and the tea added to the bath is good for soothing skin irritations and rashes.
MAGICKAL: Chickweed is carried and/or used in spells to attract love and to maintain a relationship.
GROWING: This annual spreading plant is usually hated as an obnoxious weed by the typical gardener. It is found throughout temperate areas of North America and of Europe, the plant's native homeland. It prefers full sun, average to poor soils, and infrequent watering.
Chiggers
Melt bacon grease in an iron skillet. Add enough regular table salt to make a paste. Use a Q-tip to dab this mixture on your chigger bites. Reportedly two treatments are enough to give you relief.
Cilantro
This herb that gives a lot of Mexican food its flavor, is also a good digestive aid. The flowers and leaves are edible, so throw the flowers in a salad and use some of the leaves to make a cup of tea to have after a heavy meal. The dried seeds (usually called coriander) can
be chewed to freshen your breath.
Cinnamon
MEDICINAL: Add cinnamon to remedies for acute symptoms, as this herb is a stimulant to other herbs and the body, enabling herbal remedies to work faster. It is also a blood purifier, an infection preventer, and a digestive aid. Do not ingest cinnamon oil.
MAGICKAL: Burned in incense, cinnamon will promote high spirituality. It is also used to stimulate the passions of the male. It should also be burned in incenses used for healing. The essential oil is used for protection.
Clover
MEDICINAL: Red Clover is used as a nerve tonic and as a sedative for exhaustion. It is used to strengthen those children with weak systems, and is used with children for coughs, bronchitis, wheezing, as it is mild to their systems. It is often used in combination with many other drugs in the treatment of cancer. It is also used for skin eruptions (acne).
MAGICKAL: Clover brings luck, prsperity, and health. Carrying a three-leaf clover gives you protection. Worn over the right breast it will bring you success in all undertakings.
GROWING: Grow clover as you would lawn grasses. Clover is an excellent cover crop, planted in fallow areas and turned under in the fall, it makes an excellent fertilizer for poor soils.
Cloves
MEDICINAL: Clove oil will stop a toothache when it is applied directly to the cavity. It is very warm and stimulating to the system, and is very useful with people who have cold extremities. Cloves will promote sweating with fevers, colds, and flu. It is often used in remedies for whooping cough. Cloves are also safe and effective for relieving vomiting during pregnancy.
MAGICKAL: Cloves worn in an amulet will drive away negativity and hostility, and stop gossip. It is often carried to stimulate the memory, and can be added to attraction sachets. Clove oil is also worn as an aphrodisiac, and the buds when eaten are said to stir up bodily lusts. It is placed in sachets with mint and rose to chase away melancholy and to help one sleep soundly. Carried, it can also bring comfort to the bereaved and mourning.
Coltsfoot
MEDICINAL: Used to treat respiratory problems, and is soothing to the stomach and intestines. Combine with horehound, ginger, and licorice root for a soothing cough syrup.
MAGICKAL: Coltsfoot is added to love sachets and is used in spells of peace and tranquility.
GROWING: Coltsfoot is a perennial that prefers damp, clay soils. It grows 5 to 18 inches high, and likesfull to partial sun.
Comfrey
MEDICINAL: A poultice of comfrey heals wounds, burns, sores, and bruises. It is a powerful remedy for coughs, ulcers, healing broken bones and sprains, and is used in treating asthma. Large amounts or dosages can cause liver damage, but there are no problems with using it externally. Used internally, it is best and safest to use a tea, rather than capsules.
MAGICKAL: Carrying comfrey during travel will ensure your safety. Put some in your luggage to prevent it being lost or stolen. It will also bring luck to the carrier.
GROWING: Comfrey prefers well-drained soils and partial shade. It grows from Canada to Georgia, as far west as Missouri, in the wild. It is a perennial that grows to 3 feet high. It can be started from seed, but you will be more successful with cuttings. Once established, it will spread vigorously. Harvest leaves when the flowers bud, and roots in the autumn after the first frost.
Contact Dermatitis
Contact dermatitis can develop after exposure to chemicals and allergens like soaps, detergents, solvents, preservatives and other chemicals. Try to limit or eliminate exposure and use natural herbal remedies to soothe the area. Make a very strong tea from Urtica, rosemary, stellaria, burdock, and cleaver. Use a few or all of these herbs, depending on what you can find. Apply the cooled tea to the skin often with a cotton ball. If desired, you can sip one cup of the tea 2 or 3 times a day.
Cordyceps
MEDICINAL: This group derives from Chinese mushrooms. They are used as a tonic that is considered to restore sexual potency and improve general vitality. It is believed that as general vitality is restored, so to will "vital function" be restored.
Cornflower
MEDICINAL: Juices from the stems of this plant are used externally to treat wounds and cuts.
MAGICKAL: Cornflower is used to promote and enhance phsychic sight, as well as normal eyesight.
GROWING: Cornflower is adaptable to many soils and conditions. It is an annual that grows 1 - 2 feet tall.
Corns
Here are two remedies for those bothersome corns on your feet.
Soak common ivy leaves for a couple of days in apple cider vinegar, or for several hours in lemon juice. Soak your feet in hot water, then apply two or three leaves to the corn and tape securely into place. Repeat this until the corns are soft enough to lift out.
Or, put a corn pad on the corn at night and fill the little opening in it (over the corn) with crushed garlic. Tape over and around the pad and repeat this each night until the corn softens and comes out.
Cramp Bark
MEDICINAL: Cramp Bark is one of the best female regulators in the herb world. It is a uterine sedative, aiding in menstrual cramps and afterbirth. It helps to prevent miscarriage, as well as internal hemmorhaging. Damiana is used to regulate the female cycles. It is also used to stimulate the sexualappetite. It is good for urinary problems and nervousness, as well as hypertension.
MAGICKAL: Damiana is used in infusions to incite lust, and is burned to produce visions.
Dandelion
MEDICINAL: Dandelion benefits all aspects of the liver. It clears obstructions and detoxifies poisons. It will also promote healthy circulation. The juice from a broken stem can be applied to warts and allowed to dry; used for 3 days or so it will dry up the warts. It is also used to treat premenstrual syndrome, as it is a diuretic. Also helps clear skin eruptions.
MAGICKAL: It is a sign of rain when the down from a ripened dandelion head falls without wind helping it to do so. To blow the seeds off a ripened head is to carry your thoughts to a loved one, near or far.
GROWING: Dandelion is a common yard, garden, and roadside weed. Do not gather where chemicals have been used, and don't gather those near roadsides, as they have been contaminated from exhausts.
Dill
MEDICINAL: Dill is used to treat colic, gas, and indigestion.
MAGICKAL: Dill is used in love and protection sachets. The dried seed heads hung in the home, over doorways, and above cradles provides protection. Add dill to your bath to make you irresistible to your lover.
GROWING: Dill grows in most regions of North America. It needs sun and a well-drained soil, and frequent waterings. It is a hardy annual, biennial in the deep southern regions, that reaches 2 - 3 feet tall. Dill matures quickly, and self-sows for the following year. Plant in six week intervals for a season-long supply of fresh dill.
Dong Quai
MEDICINAL: A powerful herb for the female reproductive system. It is a powerful uterine tonic and hormonal regulator. Used in premenstrual syndrome formulas as well as menopausal formulas.
Dragon's Blood
MEDICINAL: The resin of Dragon's Blood is used externally as a wash to promote healing and stop bleeding. Internally it is used for chest pains, post-partum bleeding, internal traumas, and menstrual irregularities.
MAGICKAL: Added to love incenses and sachets, it increases the potency of other herbs used. A piece of the plant is often used under the mattress as a cure for impotency. It is also used in spells to bring back a loved one. A pinch added to other herbs for magickal purposes will increase their potency.
Dyspepsia
One cause of indigestion, or dyspepsia, is holiday
overindulgence in food or drink. Make a tea with one
teaspoon of dried meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) per cup
of boiling water. Infuse for 10 minutes. Drink once or
twice a day before your next meal to sooth your digestive
tract
Echinacea
MEDICINAL: Echinacea, also known as Purple Coneflower, is a natural antibiotic and immune system stimulator, helping to build resistance to colds, flus, and infections. It increases the production of white blood cells, and improves the lymph glands. The tea from this herb should be used in all infections, and has been used in treating skin cancers and other cancers.
MAGICKAL: Echinacea is used as an offering to the spirits or gods and goddesses to strengthen a spell or ritual.
GROWING: Echinacea likes the prairies and other open, dry places. It adapts to most soils, in full sun, except wet ones. It grows over most of North America. It is a perennial, and reaches to about 2 feet tall. The root is used ground, and the leaves are used for teas.
Elder
MEDICINAL: Elder flowers mixed with mint and yarrow blossoms are excellent internal cleansers when fighting flu and colds. A tea of the elder flowers and sassafras is a remedy for acne. Elder flower oil is a remedy for chapped skin. The leaves can be used as an antiseptic poultice for external wounds, and as an insect repellant. Should not be used internally by pregnant or lactating women.
MAGICKAL: The branches of the sacred elder are used to make magickal wands for ritual. Scattering the leaves in the four winds will bring protection. Elderberry wine, made from the berries, is used in rituals. In Denmark, it is believed to be unlucky to have furniture made of elder wood. Grown near your home, elder will offer protection to the dwellers. It is used at weddings to bring good luck to the newlyweds. Flutes made formt he branches are used to bring forth spirits.
GROWING: Elder is a tree or shrub, growing to 30 feet tall. It prefers moist areas throughout North America. The leaves, bark, and roots of the American varieties generally contain poisonous alkaloids and should not be used internally.
Elecampane
MEDICINAL: Elecampane is used for intestinal worms, water retention, and to lessen tooth decay and firm the gums. It gives relief to respiratory ailments. It is usually used in combination with other herbs.Externally it is used as a wash for wounds and itching rashes. It is burned to repel insects.
MAGICKAL: Add this herb to love charms and amulets of all kinds. Used with mistletoe and vervain, itis especially powerful. Use when scrying for better results.
GROWING: Elecampane enjoys roadsides and damp fields and pastures. Plant it in full sun in a damp, but not soggy, location. It is a perennial that grows 3 - 6 feet tall. The root is most commonly used.
Eucalyptus
MEDICINAL: Eucalyptus oil is a powerful antiseptic, and is used to treat pyorrhea (gum disease), and is used on burns to prevent infections. The oil breathed in will help clear the sinuses, as will the steam from boiling the leaves. When mixed with water or vegetable oils, it makes a good insect repellant. A small drop on the tongue eases nausea.
MAGICKAL: Healing energies come from the leaves. A branch or wreath over the bed of a sick person will help spread the healing energies. The oil is added to healing baths, and for purifications.
GROWING: Eucalyptus reigns among the tallest trees in the world, capable of reaching heights of over 250 feet tall. It thrives only in areas where the average temperature remains above 60 degrees, and is adaptable to several soil conditions.