Garden Witchery

by Ellen Dugan

  Willow (Salix alba). The willow enjoys growing near the water and has the planetary association of the moon. Therefore, wands made out of willow branches are for moon magick. The willow is sacred to many moon goddesses, including Artemis, Lilith, and Hecate. The leaves are a charm for love. All parts of this tree—twigs, leaves, and branches—may be used as amulets for protection from evil. Zones 2–9.

  Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana). A fragrant, late-winter bloomer, these hardy trees may grow thirty feet tall by twenty-five feet across. This tree starts out with ribbonlike yellow blooms in late February–early March. It then has oval-shaped leaves all summer and ends the season with luminous yellow foliage in the fall. The witch hazel will thrive in sun to part shade. It is an intriguing addition to an informal garden or a smashing addition to a woodland garden. This species is hardy in zones 3–8.

  According to folklore and legend, the witch hazel is a tree of learning, poetry, fire, loveliness, and fertility. Traditionally this tree is associated with benevolent witchcraft. Its wood is often used for divining rods.

  To the Druids, trees were sacred—especially the oak and the mistletoe that grow there. The Druids divided their year into thirteen lunar months, each month having its own tree. There were the seven noble trees of Ireland and, last but not least, we have the nine sacred woods for a magickal fire.

  In this anonymous poem, we find more hints as to the magickal folklore of nine various trees, or woods. Read the poem carefully: the woods and their properties are listed. Consider the associations as you choose wood for a new wand or lay your next magickal fire into the fireplace.

  The Poem of the Nine Woods

  Nine woods in the cauldron go, burn them fast and burn them slow.

  Birch into the fire goes, to represent what the Lady knows.

  Oak gives the forest might, in the fire brings the God’s insight.

  Rowan is the tree of power, causing life and magic to flower.

  Willows at the waterside stand, to aid the journey to the Summerland.

  Hawthorn is burned to purify, and draw faery to your eye.

  Hazel, the tree of wisdom and learning, adds its strength to the bright fire burning.

  White are the flowers of the apple tree, that brings us the fruits of fertility.

  Grapes that grow upon the vine, giving us both joy and wine.

  Fir does mark the evergreen, to represent immortality unseen.

  Elder is the Lady’s tree, burn it not, or cursed you’ll be.

  Topping Trees

  (Boo! Hiss!)

  Topping—or “heading,” “tipping,” and “rounding over”—is perhaps the most harmful tree pruning practice known. Topping is the indiscriminate cutting back of tree branches to stubs. In truth, topping does the following to trees:

  It stresses trees. Removing 50–100 percent of the leaf-bearing crown of a tree starves the tree. Leaves produce “food” for the tree, so no leaves equals no food. If the tree does not have enough stored energy reserves, topping the tree will weaken it and the tree may die. Also, stressed trees are more vulnerable to insects and disease.

  Topping causes decay. Few trees can defend the multiple wounds caused by topping. This leaves the tree open to decay, which encourages those insects and diseases mentioned before.

  Topping creates hazards. The new shoots will grow quickly and they are very prone to breakage.

  Topping is just plain ugly! Topping removes the ends of the branches and leaves ugly stubs. Topping destroys the natural shape of the tree; the tree will never regain its natural form.

  Enchanting Backyard Plants

  Wait, we’re not finished yet. What about shrubs and ground cover? No, I’m not kidding. Other garden plants have great magickal potential as well.

  The azalea and rhododendron are evergreens (zones 5–8). They hold much of their foliage all winter. A staple in many southern gardens, they remind me of hospitality and gracious homes. For something different, try floating the blooms in bowls of water to attract garden spirits and faeries.

  Forsythias are harbingers of spring. Those yellow blooms are so welcome after winter’s dreariness. Use them for any spells that are for new projects, new beginnings, or for making a fresh start. You can force the stems to bloom a couple of weeks early if you cut a few stems and bring them inside to your warm house. In a few days they will bloom out. Remember to change the water often. Forsythias thrive in zones 3–8.

  The holly can be a shrub or grown as a standard tree, depending on the variety. The holly is used in Yule decorations, wreaths, swags, and to decorate the Yule log. To grow a holly in your garden is to bring good luck. It is also a protective herb. Rumor has it that holly leaves were once called “bat wings,” so if you ever run into any old spells that call for bat’s wings, you’ll know what they really mean. Zones 5 or 6–9.

  Hydrangeas come in several varieties. Big Leaf hydrangea is the species that is familiar to most gardeners. The blooms may be pink or blue, depending on your soil acidity content. If you want blue flowers, try the Nikko Blue variety and add soil acidifier like Mir-acid to the soil. The magickal association of this plant is hex-breaking. Use the dried bark from the dormant stems in the winter for this purpose. Zones 5–9.

  Lilacs are utilized for protection and to keep ghosts at bay, and they are a faery favorite. The scent of lilacs is used to promote clairvoyance. A traditional cottage garden plant, they come in many colors and sizes. A new variety is available called Tinkerbell; it is pinkish-purple and very fragrant. Zones 3–8.

  The viburnum is also for protection and has a colorful magickal history as well. In England they were planted close to barn doors to protect the cattle from being bewitched. Viburnums are great shady garden shrubs. A fragrant type called Korean Spice will make small clusters of pinkish-white blooms in the spring, green textured foliage in the summer, and red leaves plus berries for the birds in the fall. Zones 4–8.

  Heaven is under our feet

  as well as over our heads.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Ground Covers

  Ground covers are often overlooked when people talk about magickal plants.

  Periwinkleis a very popular ground cover that is also an extremely powerful magickal herb. It goes by the botanical name of Vinca minor. This ground cover blooms heavily in the spring and again lightly in the fall. Another name for this is the sorcerer’s violet. The blooms of this shade-loving ground cover are purple with little white stars inside. Utilized in all kinds of magick, the periwinkle can be applied in bindings, protection work, love spells, and prosperity. Zones 4–8.

  Ajuga. An herbal ground cover, Ajuga reptans is another easy-to-find plant. It is sometimes called bugle weed. This purple flowering plant is very attractive to bees. Long ago the crushed flowers were made into a salve for bruises. I would caution against consuming this herb, as it is thought to be mildly narcotic. Bugleweed comes in pink flowering varieties as well. Magickally use this for healing and health spells. Zones 4–10.

  Sweet Woodruff (Galium odorata) is a hardy perennial and a great plant for semi-shady gardens. A popular ground cover, woodruff has a dusky vanilla scent when it blooms and is considered a protective charm for athletes. Woodruff attracts wealth and victory. This attractive woodland plant was used for its scent in olden times. It was strewn on floors, hung in churches, added to potpourri, and stuffed into bedding. Zones 4–8.

  Gathering Guidelines—Harm None

  Now that I’ve given you this information, we should touch on a few gathering guidelines. If you do not have access to trees or shrubs in your own yard, do not look at this as a license to go and raid whatever tree you find outside of your yard. A leaf or two is one thing, but if you get caught snipping blooms off shrubs or cutting or breaking small limbs and branches off trees in your local park, you will probably face a fine. />
  If you don’t know how to correctly prune a branch from a tree or a shrub, I recommend that you learn. Go read up on it or have someone show you how. If you purposely damage a tree while taking supplies for magickal workings, I sincerely doubt that your magick is going to work. Remember that “harm none” applies to all living things, and plants and trees are definitely living.

  If you are gathering on private property, always get permission from the owner. Otherwise it’s stealing! Bring a tree identification guide with you. These are inexpensive and a must-have. Use a sharp, clean knife or garden scissors. Take only the smallest amount of plant material that you will need. Also, do not cut or dig up wildflowers, as some of our native species are protected by law.

  Make sure that you have plenty of daylight to see what you are gathering. I would caution against harvesting your plant material at night. It does not add to the mystique to be skulking around in the dark. You could accidentally nip a finger or take the wrong plant while you are out there.

  If you are out in the woods, wear long sleeves and long pants to protect yourself from bugs and assorted poison vines. Make sure you can identify poison oak, ivy, and sumac. They like to grow on trunks of trees. You don’t want to become infected.

  It can happen. A group of Master Gardeners went to clear deadwood out of a large area of flower beds in the park and didn’t notice or identify that the wood was covered in poison ivy and poison oak vines. Needless to say, a few days later, they were all covered themselves as well. When I was told this story I started to laugh, only to be glared at by the still-rash-covered Master Gardeners. The point is, keep your eyes open. Be wise and work in harmony with nature, not against it . . . and try to avoid poison ivy if you can.

  [contents]

  Won’t you come into my garden?

  I would like my roses to see you.

  Richard Sheridan

  3

  Flower Magick

  If you’re like me, you have a hard time passing by a flower—any flower—without stopping. Whether you are admiring the blooms as you stroll down a winding garden path, considering a display of perennials at a nursery, or being drawn to a clever arrangement of fresh flowers, you just can’t help yourself. Do you find yourself compelled to stop, take a good whiff of the flower’s aroma, or gently stroke the petals and coo over them? This generally indicates that you’re a goner. Congratulations! You’re going to have a blast performing flower magick.

  Just for fun (yes, I do use that word a lot, don’t I? That’s okay, magick is supposed to be a joyous thing), you may want to ask yourself what your favorite type of gift flower is. It will give you a little insight on yourself, and you might be surprised by what the answer can mean.

  Is the rose your favorite bloom to give or receive? Then you’re a romantic, traditional and tasteful. If you love the spicy scent of carnations, then you are a nurturer, a caregiver, and have lots of energy. Do you have a thing for daisies? You have a cheerful, sunny outlook and are practical. The lily is your preference? You’re sensual, luxurious, and enjoy having or making beautiful things. The orchid is your preferred flower? Well, then, you have impeccable taste, and have a hidden, exotic side to your personality.

  Listing every correspondence for magickal herbs and flowers could fill up an entire book, and has. The herbal works of the late Scott Cunningham are required reading if you are serious about expanding your knowledge of natural magick. Cunningham left us a legacy of herbal information that is both detailed and comprehensive. That’s a tough combination to beat, and I am certainly not going to try.

  What I would like to do is give you an elementary list of floral correspondences, and some suggestions for easy-to-grow magickal flowers and blooming herbs. Color floral magick is a uncomplicated way to get in there and start working garden witchery. You should be familiar with color correspondence charts by now. Right?

  I cannot stress enough how important it is for you to experiment with your own color correspondences. Working with flower magick is a very individual process. Your experience counts. Go with what works for you. Case in point: For some witches, blue is the healing color, not red. If you always have had success with blue as a healing color, I am certainly not going to tell you that you’re wrong.

  The following information is to be used as a springboard to get you thinking, and then to add ideas of your own to. As you work through this chapter, start making notes on your favorite flowers and their magickal correlations (use the journal in the back of this book!). List the flowers that you would like to try your hand at growing in your own garden and check on the meanings of those that are already growing at home.

  Please note that some floral colors, like blue, green, and the black/burgundy pigment, can be a challenge to find. There are very few true green or black flowers, but they are available. If you imagine black flowers as gothic and/or macabre, think of it this way instead. Black flowers in the garden make a contribution that goes beyond novelty or shock value, for they are unequaled at providing contrast. Another excellent point to make is that most of the “black” flowers aren’t really black at all. In actuality they are very dark purple, red, or brown. Here are a few suggestions for some stylish, black-colored flowers for your garden.

  If you are into irises, try Black Swan (zones 3–10). It was introduced in 1960 and is a reliable blooming garden plant that will add a little mystery to your borders. There are also black hollyhocks, an heirloom variety called Nigra (Alcea rosea), hardy from zones 2–10. Look for the new dark burgundy cosmos. There is a sultry maroon-black tulip called Queen of the Night (zones 3–8). Imagine this tulip underplanted with white daffodils or blue forget-me-nots (underplanting is simply planting a shorter flower at the base of a taller one. This may help hide longer stems and it gives the flowers a thicker, more “plumped up” look).

  A few varieties of roses are so dark burgundy that they have a black cast to them. Watch for the moss rose Nuits de Young (zones 5–10). This shrubby rose has thornless stems. Instead, its stems are covered with a dark, prickly moss. It grows four to five feet tall, blooms only once a year during midsummer, and possesses some of the darkest flowers of any rose.

  I have easily located black pansies such as Viola Black Magic (zones 5–10) in my hometown. There is also another pansy variety available in the fall months called Trick-or-Treat (zones 5–10). These colorful seasonal pansies are a mixture of solid black, bright orange, and deep purple. They are great for pumping up the color in your fall garden, and for dressing up containers and window boxes, just in time for Halloween.

  Now, on to a more elusive flower color: green. Are there really any green flowers, you may wonder? Check out the flowers on Bells of Ireland, they are green. So is a species or two of miniature rose. A few daffodil and tulip varieties are a pale green and white mixture. If nothing else is available, you can always use herb foliage, hosta leaves, or ferns.

  As for blue, you have more options. Most of the true blue flowers are sacred to Venus, such as the morning glory and tall delphiniums. Delphiniums, a great perennial for the back of the garden, come in several shades of blue. Another fun garden perennial is the star-shaped balloon flower (Platycodon grandiflorum). Kids love them. They look like blue balloons before they pop open. More options include pastel blue pansies. These are readily available in the spring and fall. For a lavender-blue, try iris, and hybrid tea roses such as Blue Girl.

  You’ll figure it out. Look in seed and plant catalogs for more unusual floral colors and varieties. If you find yourself reading this list of flower colors and magickal correspondences and automatically thinking of flowers to fill the roles, good for you!

  Flower Colors and Magickal Correspondences

  White: The Maiden, all purpose, purification, protection, and moon magick

  Green: The God, element of earth, faeries, healing, money, luck, and fertility

  P
ink: Friendship, children, affection, and love

  Red: The Mother, element of fire, lust, love, sex, healing, and protection

  Yellow: Element of air, wisdom, mental powers, and divination

  Orange: Energy, vitality, and success

  Purple: Power, psychic abilities, and passion

  Blue: Element of water, healing, sleep, and peace

  Brown and Beige: Home, stability, and pets

  Black and Dark Burgundy: The Crone, banishing, breaking hexes, and removing negativity

  Flowers always make people better,

  happier, and more helpful;

  they are sunshine, food

  and medicine to the soul.

  Luther Burbank

  Flowers of the Month

  Another correspondence that you have available to you are the flowers of your birth month. These flowers, like your birth stone, are assigned to specific months of the year. Working with the flower of your birth month is a great way to put some extra kick into any garden witchery that you do. Try it for yourself. Keep track of your results in your garden witchery journal.

  The month of January has the carnation and the snowdrop. The carnation, as mentioned earlier, bestows energy and healing. The snowdrop, the flower of late winter and early spring, symbolizes new beginnings.

  February birthdays can claim the violet and the primrose. The humble violet, found most often growing in your lawn, is a faery flower and is used for love and protection. The primrose blooms in early spring. Magickal uses are protection and love. In England, gardeners looking for signs of spring anticipate the first primroses the way Americans watch for the earliest daffodils.

  To March belongs the daffodil. You know spring has arrived when the daffodils start to bloom. Magickally used for fertility and love, this favorite spring bulb needs to be planted in the fall. Daffodils are a traditional flower for the festival of Ostara, the spring equinox.