In old magickal recipes and spells, strange ingredients are often called for that cannot always be taken literally. In one ancient Greco-Egyptian spell, the recipe called for "the navel of a male crocodile", which really meant pond weed; "the heart of a baboon" meant oil of lily. The "sacrifice" in folklore was usually an egg buried in the ground. Here's what those unusual nouns really meant!

Adder's tongue; Plantain

Bat's Wing: Holly Leaf

Bat's wool: Moss

Blood: Elder sap

Bloody fingers: Foxglove

Bodily Fluids: Houseleek

Brains: Congealed gum from a cherry tree

Bull's blood: Horehound

Corpse candles: Mullein

Crocodile dung: Black earth

Dead Man: Ash or Mandrake root carved in a crude human shape or poppet

Dragon's scales: Bistort Leaves

Ear of an ass: Comfrey

Ear of a goat: St. John's Wort

Eyes: Eyebright

Fingers: Cinquefoil

Hair: Maidenhair fern

Hand: The expanded frond from a male fern used to make the true hand of glory, which is nothing more than a candle made of wax mixed with fern

Heart: Walnut

Lion's tooth: Dandelion

Skin of a man: Fern

Skull: Skullcap

Snake: Bistort

Snake's blood: Hematite stone

Tongue of dog: Hound's tongue

Tooth or Teeth: Pinecones

Unicorn horn: True unicorn root

Worms: Gnarled, thin roots of a local tree


Information from The Ultimate Book of Shadows for the New Generation Solitary Witch by Silver RavenWolf