The Pagan Heart
Callum's Herbaria

May 2005 Issue
   

Callum's Herbaria

By Callum Mostyn

Dydd da. Croeso i Callum's Herbaria. I'm Callum, and welcome once more to my Herbaria.

Today I am sitting outside enjoying the spring weather as it turns towards summer. Beltaine has just passed by - the local Morris Dancers made their usual colourful and exhuberant display on the Green, and we had a lovely Maypole - if a little tipsy looking this year. Yes, it was planted crooked. But it still worked perfectly - which is afterall the only requirement - and I daresay the Earth enjoyed herself as always. I know the locals certainly seemed to. I needed to rouse a number of revellers out from the bottom end of my garden. With all the planting, I really can't afford bodies rolling around - although why they would want to is beyond me. Very muddy still, and the ducks were quite vocal in their displeasure at being disturbed.

Anyway, enough about the shennanigans here. Time to talk herbs once more. The first one this edition is the humble yet heady clove. Not one for my garden, unfortunately, this delightfully aromatic species requires a warmer clime than England. If you too are unable to cultivate the clove, it is easy enough to purchase as a dried or powdered product, and the oil is wonderful too.

In keeping with its aroma, the clove is a herb of fire - passion and sexuality reign when you wear clove oil or carry the spice about you. It attracts the opposite sex (not so good if you are more inclined towards the same sex, however). Used in massage oil and cooking, the clove tends to stimulate and makes a spectacular ingredient in passion-magic. Clove incense both wards the environment and repels negative energy. It also purifies and cleanses. On a more practical level, clove has a history of alleviating toothache, and freshening bad breath.

Interestingly, clove is also very helpful in bringing comfort to those who have suffered loss, specifically the death of a loved one.

Highly compatable with clove is lemon. This I do grow, by the way. A lemon tree in the garden keeps the energy clean and fresh and draws positive energy. It also looks lovely from the time it buds through to the dropping of the fruit. The delicate yet strong scent it imparts to the garden is, well, memorable. Lemon is a memory herb, aiding the mind and increasing the ability to recall matters. Added to clove it makes a strong bereavement potion, helping alleviate grief through the beautiful memories it draws forth. It also is an important ingredient in many passion spells! There's that contradictory nature again.

Lemon will encourage fidelity and friendship - so add it to family meals and food-gifts for friends. It purifies - to bring this ability into the home, make lemon water and spray it about, use lemon oil to clean the furniture, or make lemon pomanders with cloves. It also smells delightful, enhancing the "feel" of your home with very little effort. And that always improves the metaphysical nature of a place.

Continuing along the theme of love (afterall, this is May, the month of Beltaine, Freya's Blot, the Sheela na gig festival, and Frigga Blot, to name a few), I want you to also think about lemon verbena.

This exquisitely fragrent herb is also very attractive in the garden with its large lance-like leaves, its free-form, open growth, and its delicate spiky flowers. It does grow large - five to ten feet - so it needs a bit of space. However it is also very versatile, tolerating most soil types and making an attractive potplant as well as garden shrub. It can be a bit sensitive to cold, so, if like me you live in a cooler climate, use pots or tubs you can move indoors or into a greenhouse over winter. It also draws the bees and butterflies, bringing that drowsy summer hum and brilliant colour to the garden.

Magically, lemon verbena is all about love and purity - interesting combination there. As mentioned, it purifies. When used in a love or passion potion, it brings purity to the spell, helping to ensure the magic worked is performed with good intent. It also strengthens the power of other ingredients, so if you are running low on a herb or need to substitute a lesser one, throw in some lemon verbena to give it a bit of a boost. Use it in cooking, sachets, potpourri, oils, or as a living talisman. I have always enjoyed throwing fresh leaves in my salads - and sometimes the flowers - and it is truly delightful when made into a tea. A cup of lemon verbena tea before bedtime will bring deep and dreamless slumber - useful if your mind is working overtime, or you've been prone to nightmares of late. Blend up a sleep poppet and stuff it beneath your pillow to enhance your sleep. As with clove, it enhances your sexual appeal, so take care whom you serve it too!

You could add a little Pennyroyal to your passion magic - while not affacious for love or sexuality, it is known as the herb of peace. For this reason its inclusion is valuable as it will help ensure the lovers listen to each other and communicate, without allowing their passions to enflame and incite. It is also a protective herb, warding against curses and negative influences. However, the oil is poisonous, so be careful how you use it.

Grown in the garden as a ground cover, pennyroyal discourages ants, fleas, and mosquitoes. It also repels insects when rubbed on the skin, or dried and used as a powder in problem areas. With all my boggy bottom end, pennyroyal with its affection for moist soil and partial shade is an ideal addition. I just need to keep the ducks away while it gets established.

Which reminds me of another shade-loving plant. The common violet. Delicate in appearance, this deceptive plant is hardy and easy to grow. Toss a few plants into the ground, and stand back. As long as the area is well shaded, cool, and a little damp, the violets will flourish. Their rich green foliage offsets the lovely white and purple flowers.

The violet is quite versatile magically. It calms passion and soothes emotional pain - and on that tack, it's also very healing for headaches and emotional disorders. Makes a wonderful sleep-inducing nose-gay too. Place the bouquet on your bedside and enjoy restful sleep. Along the lines of our sex and fun theme, try adding violet to your passion-potion. Despite its soothing properties, it's a powerful inducer of lust and also of love. Use it to bring a spark back into your relationship, and to help you strengthen existing ties.

Anyway, that's it from me for this month. Hope your garden brings you as much joy as mine does me! Da boch, my friends, and bi bheannaithe!