Herbal/Incense Associations
Nature does not Hurry – Yet everything is accomplished.
– Lao Tzu
Humans and animals have been using and consuming plants since the dawn of time. Without plants we wouldn’t be here. Oxygen, Medicine, Aroma Therapy, Food – there are countless uses for various plants all over the world.
Plants/Herbs are part of the Earth and carry that energy and life within them. Each plant has it’s own properties and associations that can aid in energy/spell work of all types. This page isn’t about listing all there is, but instead listing the most commonly used, and the ones I personally use.
**DO NOT use any herb/plant that you have not researched. Some plants/herbs are toxic when consumed, inhaled or touched. Always use caution and proceed with knowledge.
Wisdom of the Crone
Air/Earth Element
Masculine – Jupiter – Virgin Mary
Promotes wisdom and helps overcome grief.
Sage has grown in popularity over the last few years due to the “Spirituality” trend that has occurred. Smudging your home has become more common and due to that Sage is in demand now, more than ever. The smoke is used to bless, cleanse and heal the person or object being smudged. Sage is used to ‘wash off’ the outside world when one enters ceremony or other sacred space. Objects are likewise washed off with sage medicine smoke to rid them of unwanted influences.
There are many types of Sage. Most people tend to only know about “White” Sage. While “White” Sage is a wonderful plant it is being over harvested to meet trending demands. Please consider using other smudging alternatives (even other forms of sage besides White)
Other forms of Sage besides White:
Garden Sage, Lavender Sage, Blue Sage, Black and Dessert Sage. If you are using Sage just to smudge you can even use other herbs that have cleansing properties like Rosemary or Cedar
Sage tea has antiseptic qualities and makes a good gargle for sore throats.
Sage may boost insulin action, and therefore, a daily cup of tea may be helpful for those with diabetes. Use one or two teaspoons of dried sage leaves to one cup of boiling water.
*Carry some in your pocket to attract money.
*Write your wish or desire on a leaf and burn it to release your intention. You can also sleep with the leaf under your pillow for 3 days then bury it.
Holy Wood
Feminine (yellow tint) – Water Element
Masculine (white tint) – Air Element
Spiritual purifying, energy cleansing and healing. Some of the most well-known Palo Santo uses include inspiring creativity, evoking protection, infusing blessings and bringing both love and good fortune.
When burned or worn, palo santo raises the vibrations of the energy around you to the highest point of universal love
Air Element
Masculine – Murcury
Used for purification and often used for invitation of the spirits, it’s well known for its ability to calm that it has been scientifically proven to reduce stress. Helps to aid sleep and promote peace.
Sharpen the mind, to encourage or strengthen pure love and to encourage fertility.
Lavender deters fleas and moths. Place sachets of lavender buds or lavender wands in cupboards and closets or stuff them into pet bedding to help deter pests from these areas. Also, put sachets of lavender in your dryer to scent your laundry. These can be reused several times.
Fire Element
Masculine – Sun
Empowerment, Banishing, Cleansing, Wish magick, Loyalty, Luck, Wealth, Fidelity
Bay leaves can be used to asperge a space, object or person in preparation or as part of any ritual, a branch of many leaves may be used in a group situation.
Bay leaves may be added to any spell or potion designed to enhance psychic ability and is a great addition to a psychic dream pillow.
Laurel wreaths may be worn by healers during healing ceremonies and while treating the sick in order to increase the positive healing energy and protect against negative energy that may be hanging around the sick room. Bay leaf can also be burned in the sick room after the illness has passed to purify it and drive out any residual sickness vibes.
Air Element
Masculine – Mercury
A powerful cleanser of energy. It increases, clarifies, and in some cases sweetening communication between people. Brings Good luck, enhances romance and sexual pleasure.
helpful for developing magical skills. Add to ritual aids for ceremonial magic or divination, or, since Mercury is also the master of disguise, consider adding it to incense or oils used for shapeshifting, glamours, and invisibility. This herb lends “innocence” to Trickster items and is an essential ingredient in Van Van oil. Unlike other citrus scents, lemongrass is relaxing and mildly sedating, so this magic herb makes a nice bedtime tea for divination and is a good addition to mugwort and lavender in dream pillows. For kitchen witchery, it is pleasant infused in wine vinegar too
Fire Element
Masculine – Sun
Blessing, Consecrating, Healing, Love, Romance
Rosemary can be used in spells for fidelity and remembrance as well as to dispel jealousy.
Rosemary is useful for ritual baths, and for making sacred herbal water for ritual cleansing, blessing and purification. Bathing in rosemary will enhance your memory and will make you more memorable to those you meet throughout the day.
Use rosemary in spells to enhance memory, including those spells for success in school. Also use for spells to retain youth and burn as incense when you are meditating or doing dream work to remember your past lives.
Place rosemary under your pillow to help you to remember your dreams and to keep away nightmares and other unwanted nighttime visitations.
Rosemary may be used in handfasting ceremonies in a variety of ways. It can be carried or worn by the bride and/or groom to symbolize love and loyalty and it may also be gifted to guests for the same purpose. If a bride and groom plant a rosemary plant together on their wedding day, they can watch it as it grows to divine the family’s fortune.
Rosemary should not be taken internally in large doses. Rosemary should not be used medicinally by pregnant women, but it is okay for them to use it as a food seasoning.
Scientific evidence suggests that rosemary does in fact stimulate the memory centers of the brain. So use a sprig of rosemary as a book-marker and wear rosemary oil when studying and on test day to help you remember what you need to know.
Give a dear friend a rosemary bush, or a rosemary wreath as a parting gift, as a symbolic promise that you will never forget him, or her.
As a symbol of fidelity, a rosemary bush, or crafts made of rosemary are suitable wedding gifts.
Keep some Rosemary oil on hand to dab behind your ears on those days that you wish to make a lasting impression, such as opening night, a job interview or a hot date. Wear rosemary oil whenever you want to be unforgettable!
Christians once believed that the Rosemary plant echoed the life of Christ, growing for 33 years to the height of a man, then perishing. Rosemary stands for remembrance, as Shakespeare famously wrote down in Hamlet. (Indeed, recent research has suggested that the scent of Rosemary improves retention and recall of facts.) Rosemary extract was used medicinally to cure all manner of ailments, and cultivated for its spiritual powers of protection and cleansing.
Fire Element
Masculine – Sun
Love, Money, Happiness, Healing
Great for meditation and spirituality. Helps with success, healing, protection, love, prosperity and to speed up spells.
Cinnamon and cinnamon oil can be used in love spells and to make charms to draw love, happiness, and money. Those cinnamon scented brooms you can buy at gift shops can be charged to bring these things to your household and hung up somewhere near the door.
Place a cinnamon stick in sachets to power spell work related to success, money, love, lust, protection, and more.
Cinnamon is an excellent accompaniment for most types of spell work as it boosts personal power, making spells more effective and potent.
Water Element
Feminine – Venus
Beauty, Health, Romance, Love
Vanilla incense is burned to attract love, increase sexual desire, and to improve the powers of the mind.
Restores energy, strengthen mental abilities, attracts good fortune and is calming. Often paired with cinnamon to aid in love blessings.
*Create a mixture with powdered vanilla and sugar and store it in a beautiful clear glass jar. Put it in your house near a window and it will attract happiness, peace and affection to the house
Water Element
Feminine – Venus
Rosewater is a protective agent worn on clothes.
Rose petals can be added to charms against the evil eye.
White roses worn at weddings will bring happiness and security to the couple.
Roses are used traditionally in love spells. It is great in incense and potpourri. Thorns can be used to mark wax figures.
Rosehips can be carried for general good luck or strung like beads for luck in love.
Rose hips can also be used as offerings to encourage friendly spirits to take up residence.
Water Element
Feminine – Venus
Affection, Banishing, Beauty, Courage, Loyalty, Luck, Ward off nightmares
sacred to the Druids and a place where wild thyme grows would have been considered a powerful place, blessed by the Gods. If burnt, it will help purify the area and Ancient Greeks and Romans burnt thyme in their temples and sacred places to ward off negativity and raise the spirits, as it brings an aura of active tranquility.
thyme is also known as one of the herbs that allows the witch to contact entities from other worlds and according to my experience it is a good herb to use if you would like to communicate with the Faeries as it will help you combat your insecurities.
Thyme can be used in magick spells to increase strength and courage.
When working hard to achieve a goal that seems un-achievable, thyme can be used in spells to help you keep a positive attitude.
Fire Element
Masculine – Jupiter
Money, Luck, Stops Gossip
Cloves are masculine in nature and aligned with the planet Jupiter and the element of fire.
Used in magick to attract good luck and prosperity, to keep good friends close, and to help stop malicious gossip. Burn to prevent people from spreading rumors about you or push the cloves into a red candle and burn that.
To keep friendships strong, make each friend a cloth bag with seven cloves inside. Wear always.
Cloves can be added to money drawing and good luck mojo bags for gamblers and clove oil can be added to oils for a similar purpose.
Cloves have been used as an aphrodisiac. Simply infuse cloves into wine or apple cider to enjoy its effects.
Fire Element
Masculine – Mars
Love, Money, Peace
Basil helps steady the mind, brings happiness, love, peace, and money and protects against insanity.
Use basil in spells to attract love and in preparation for astral projection or to bring luck in physical journeys.
Apparently carrying a leaf in your pocket or wallet will attract money. Placing one in your cash register will attract money there too.
Soak basil in water for three days and then sprinkle the water over the threshold of your place of business to bring in customers and keep away thieves. (Haiti)
Dust the upper half of your body, especially over your heart, with powdered basil to keep your lovers eyes only on you. (S. America)
Keep a bit of basil in each room to protect the home and family. To protect you when leaving the house, rub some basil on your forehead. (Hindu)
Also used in peacemaking spells and to make up after a fight.
Fire Element
Masculine – Mars
Protection, Fidelity, Exorcism, Anti-Thef
Cumin seed has a power guard against theft, as it is considered that has the “gift of retention”, which prevents that any object that contains it is stolen.
If you want to protect a place – your home or business – can burn a little cumin with incense, mixed with salt and spread it on the ground to ward off evil.
This herbe 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 also found in some recipes designed to increase one’s sexual appetite. And when given to a lover, it will promote fidelity. Cumin seed when steeped in wine to make a lust potion. Cumin, when carried, gives peace of mind
Air Element
Masculine – Mercury
Calm, Inspiration, Luck, Protection, Purification, Strength
Parsley can be used in a ritual bath and in ritual incense associated with communication with spirits of the dead.
Used in funeral rites and celebrations of victory by the Greeks; held sacred to Persephone. Used in baby blessing rites. It was once believed that the mere tossing of fresh parsley into a pond would heal fish. Sacred to Venus and to Aphrodite, parsley used for success and romance should be gathered on a Friday beneath a waxing Moon. For magickal purposes the dried, powdered greens may be used and the root may also be harvested. When used as a bathing herbe, Parsley brings communion with the second aspect of the Goddess, that of the loving mother of the universe. This procedure is highly recommended for a woman who is with child and desires a healthy pregnancy. The Greeks and Romans believed that parsley would improve the agility and speed of their horses. Parsley may be fed to one’s horses today to bring them good fortune and success.
Wearing or eating parsley is supposed to protect against drunkenness and increase strength, vitality, and passion.
Air Element
Feminine -Venus
Happiness, Strength, Vitality, Healing
It is used in spells for happiness, tranquility, luck, health, protection and letting go of a loved one. It can also be used in spells to deepen existing love.
When worn on the head during sleep, it is said to promote psychic dreams.
Oregano symbolizes joy. Use it for rituals celebrating joyful occasions, or in spells to bring joy into one’s life. It is also a suitable decoration for a grave to ensure the deceased finds happiness in their next life.
Growing oregano near your home is supposed to protect it from evil forces. It has also been carried as a charm for the same purpose. Couples were crowned with wreaths of oregano at weddings in both ancient Greece and Rome to ensure their future joy.
Fire Element
Masculine – Mars
Boosting spellwork, energy, fidelity, hex breaking, love
Fire Element
Masculine – Mars
Binding, Banishing
It is most often used for warding, cursing, and protection.
– When warding pepper can be scattered in an area to protect from a variety of things. Apart from scattered, pepper could be burned (although that may not be entirely pleasant), added to charms, or used in spells. Use it with old nails for a particularly effective ward on property (although I’d bury these a good foot deep to avoid a health hazard for bare feet).
– To expand on its warding and protective uses, pepper can also be used to dispel unwanted entities, negative energy and unwelcome visitors. It will also aid in putting an end to gossip and the envy of other people.
– It can be used in curses. Pepper can be unpleasant when consumed in high amounts, and is notorious for its habit for making people sneeze. Use pepper in curses to give them an extra kick.
– Pepper is also used for: commanding, sensuality, passion, and spell breaking.
Fire Element
Masculine – Mars
Love, Protection, Cleansing, Strengthens other spell ingredients
A spell from the American West to send away unwanted lover: Place a clove of garlic intersected with two crossed pins where he is sure to walk. When he walks over it, he will lose interest.
A potion with the opposite effect was made of a strand of the target’s hair, threads from his or her clothing, alcohol and garlic. Somehow you had to make the target ingest this, and then he or she would fall madly in love with you.
Garlic cloves can also be used, with other things, to stuff poppets intended for negative magic.
Garlic braids hung over the door repel thieves and envious people as well as bring good luck. Change the braid every year. Hanging garlic over a bedroom door will draw lovers into it.
Garlic is said to have aphrodisiac powers when eaten.
Wiping a knife with garlic juice empowers it against negative energies.
A clove of garlic can be added to any mojo bag to strengthen its energy.
Garlic is used for exorcism, spell-breaking, invoking passion, protection and strength.
Also used to protect against psychic and physical vampirism.
Fire Element
Healing, New opportunities, Strength, romance, speeds up spells
Ginger is energetic and fiery and adds power to any magical activity. It is used in spells to “speed things up” or to cause plans to come to fruition quickly. It can also be used in spells to add passion to an existing relationship.
Air Element
Masculine – Jupiter, Mercury
Money, Luck, Prosperity, Success, Creative thinking, breaking curses.
Nutmeg can be added to beverages drunk before meditation and divination to enhance clairvoyance and clear sight and to encourage visions. A massage oil containing nutmeg essential oil or nutmeg butter may also be rubbed into the temples for the same purpose.
Nutmeg essential oil is an ingredient in Money Drawing Oil which can be used to anoint candles and other items during spell work aimed at bringing money to the household. Powdered nutmeg can also be added to money drawing powders which can be sprinkled over coals, candles, and other items during money-drawing spells.
