CUMIN
cumino aigro (Malta)
cuminum cyminum
Umbelliferae
parsley family

LORE
Mrs. Grieve tells us that the Greeks
saw this herb as a symbol of greed,
of one's self being out of balance
through an excessive attraction
to manifest reality.

It is quite possible that there
were politcal origins for this belief.

We know that cumin was once too valuable
that it was used as a means of payment.

USAGE
In correspondence with the Heirophant card,
this herb can be used to promote a healthy
balance of one's interaction within both
the spiritual and mundane worlds.
It can be used magickally to provide protection
for one's home and one's kindred.
It has sometimes been employed in modern spells,
calling for a small pinch of the ground seed
to increase good fortune and prosperity.
Cumin is found in some recipes designed
to increase one's sexual appetite.
There are some practitioners (usually men)
who believe that a pinch of cumin should be part
of one's daily diet in order to prolong vitality.

DESCRIPTION
Its stem is slender and branched, rarely exceeding
1 foot in height and somewhat angular.
Leaves are divided into long, narrow segments like
Fennel, but much smaller and are of a deep green color,
generally turned back at the ends.
Upper leaves are nearly stalkless, but the lower ones
have longer leaf-stalks.
Flowers are small, rose-coloured or white, in stalked
umbels with only four to six rays, each of which are
only about 1/3 inch long, and bloom in June and July,
being succeeded by fruit
- the so-called seeds
- which constitute the Cumin of pharmacy.
They are oblong in shape, thicker in the middle,
compressed laterally about 5 inch long, resembling
Caraway seeds, but lighter in color and bristly instead
of smooth, almost straight, instead of being curved.
They have nine fine ridges,
overlapping as many oil channels, or vittae.
Odor and taste are somewhat like caraway,
but less agreeable.

HABITAT
Cumin, besides being used medicinally, was
in the Middle Ages one of the commonest spice
of European growth.
It is a small annual, herbaceous plant, indigenous
to Upper Egypt, but from early times was cultivated
in Arabia, India, China, and in the countries
bordering on the Mediterranean.

CULTIVATION
Although we get nearly all our supplies
from the Mediterranean, it would be perfectly feasible
to grow Cumin in England, as it will ripen its fruit
as far north as Norway.
It is, however, rarely cultivated here, and seeds
are generally somewhat difficult to obtain.
They should be sown in small pots, filled
with light soil and plunged into a very moderate
hot bed to bring up the plants.
These should be hardened gradually in an open
frame and transplanted into a warm border of good soil,
preserving the balls of earth which adhere
to the roots in the pots.
Keep clean of weeds and the plants will flower
very well and will probably perfect their seeds
if the season should be warm and favorable.
Plants are threshed when the fruit is ripe and the 'seeds'
dried in the same manner as Caraway.


ACTIONS
CULINARY
CULTIVATION
HABITAT
HERB GARDEN
LORE
MAGICAL PROPERTIES
PREPERATIONS